Bosnia's Serbian entity, led by President Milorad Dodik, who is defying a ban on holding office, will hold a referendum on October 25 regarding the federal court's verdict against him.
Lawmakers in Republika Srpska's (RS) regional assembly voted late Friday for the referendum amid a worsening political crisis after Dodik's prime minister resigned this week, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
The action faced immediate international condemnation. The European Union delegation in Bosnia said that the court ruling against Dodik "must be respected".
"Subjecting a court decision to a public vote runs counter to the rule of law and the independence of judicial authorities," it added in a post on X.
"We expect the Republika Srpska authorities to de-escalate the situation and respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina."
Britain's ambassador to Bosnia, Julian Reilly, made a similar call, saying that any referendum on the court decision would be "illegal".
Dodik, 66, was convicted in February by a Bosnian federal court of flouting decisions by the international envoy enforcing a peace deal that ended Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.
Dodik avoided a one-year prison sentence by paying a 19,000-euro ($22,000) fine, but an appeals court upheld a ruling that he be removed from the RS presidency and banned from political office for six years.
Dodik has vowed to block elections in Republika Srpska and to hold a series of referendums -- the first of which would be the vote on the court ruling.
Bosnian Serb lawmakers voted to put the question: "Do you accept the decisions of the unelected foreigner (international envoy Christian Schmidt) and the unconstitutional verdict of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Court against the President of the RS, as well as the decision of the Bosnian Electoral Commission to revoke the mandate of the president of the RS, Milorad Dodik?"
Of the 65 lawmakers present, 50 voted in favour. Opposition lawmakers refused to cast votes.
"I won't get in your way... but you're walking on a minefield," warned one opposition RS lawmaker, Nebojsa Vukanovic, a fierce critic of Dodik.
