An ally of former Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik won a snap presidential election in Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serb-majority Republika Srpska, preliminary results from the election commission showed on Sunday.

"According to preliminary, unofficial and incomplete results, Sinisa Karan won 50.89% of the votes," Jovan Kalaba, the commission's president, said at a news conference.

Karan from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) previously served as minister of internal affairs and was considered Dodik's right-hand man.

What led to Sunday's vote

The election was called earlier this year, after Dodik was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and barred from political activity over separatist policies that international overseers said stoked instability in the Balkan nation.

Dodik flouted decisions by High Representative Christian Schmidt, the international envoy tasked with enforcing the Dayton Agreement peace deal that ended the Bosnian War 30 years ago.

Dodik had repeatedly threatened the possible secession of Republika Srpska, from the rest of the Bosnia.

His threats reignited fears in a nation where the 1992-95 war killed around 100,000 people and displaced millions.

Although Dodik initially came to power in 1998 with Western support, he later began expressing more openly Serbian nationalist positions and has in recent years attempted to pivot toward Moscow.

What is the Republika Srpska?

The 1995 Dayton Agreement that ended the war saw the Balkan country divided into a Serb-majority entity, known as Republika Srpska, as well as the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was to represent the Bosniak — also known as Bosnian Muslim — and Croat communities.

The mixed Brcko District was established as a buffer between the two entities.

Since the end of the war, Bosnia has remained plagued by nationalistic politics, as well as corruption and substantial economic woes.

Who was the other candidate in the Sunday vote?

Karan was pitted against Branko Blanusa, a university professor and candidate of the opposition Serb Democratic Party.

Four other contenders were also in the race but were not considered to be strong candidates.

Blanusa said upon casting his ballot in the northwestern town of Banja Luka that "the election campaign passed in a fair and tolerant atmosphere."

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah