(9 Dec 2007)
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AP TELEVISION
Modrica - 3 Oct 2007
1. Funeral of late Bosnian Serb president Milan Jelic
2. Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica attending
3. Mid of Jelic picture
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Serbs nationalists rally for independence
AP TELEVISION
Banja Luka, Bosnia - 29 October 2007
4. Various of protesters being entertained by music at rally
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Serb candidates voting for new president
AP TELEVISION
Various - 9 Dec 2007
Banja Luka
5. Ognjen Tadic, leader of the nationalist Serb Democratic Party (SDS), holding his son as he places voting card in ballot box
Laktasi
6. Milorad Dodik, leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, placing ballot paper in box .
STORYLINE
The president of Bosnia's Serb Republic, Milan Jelic, was buried in his hometown on October 3rd, as tens of thousands of mourners heaped red and white roses onto his grave.
Jelic, 51, died after suffering a massive heart attack while watching a soccer game in his hometown, Modrica.
Crowds of mourners threw roses along the path to the cemetery as the coffin passed.
The president of neighbouring Serbia, Boris Tadic, and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica attended the funeral, along with Bosnia's local and international officials.
Jelic was elected president of the Serb Republic, one of the two ministates that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2006.
Jelic had been a member of the Serb Democratic Party, founded by wartime Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, who has been indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and remains at large.
In 1998 Jelic left the party and joined Dodik's Independent Social Democrats, now the most influential Bosnian Serb party.
Before he was elected president, Jelic served as minister for economy, energy and development in the Bosnian Serb government.
Jelic, a former soccer player, was also president of Bosnia's Soccer Federation.
On October 29th thousands of Bosnian Serbs gathered in Banja Luka to protest proposed reforms they fear could lead to the end of their mini-state within Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Some held banners saying "We want freedom for Serbia" and "We don't like Lajack," referring to Miroslav Lajcak, a Slovak diplomat who is the top European Union international administrator in the ethnically divided country.
Lajcak has proposed new rules designed to strengthen the ability of the central Bosnian Parliament and other bodies to enact further reforms that could lead to Bosnian membership in the European Union.
Lajcak's proposals would change the way a quorum is calculated in order to make it more difficult for lawmakers to block decisions simply by not showing up.
On December 9th Bosnian Serb prime minister Milorad Dodik voted in Banja Luka at the presidential elections in the Republika Srpska (Serb Republic).
Another candidate in the elections, Ognjen Tadic of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) also cast his ballot, 40 kilometres away in Laktasi.
The main frontrunners, according to political analysts, are Rajko Kuzmanovic and Mladen Ivani, both of whom cast their votes earlier on in Banja Luka with their wives.
Ognjen Tadic, the leader of the nationalist Serb Democratic Party (SDS), said he thought he had succeeding in gaining some voters, and complained that some of his remarks had been inaccurately reported.
"Honesty is not a category that you are ashamed of in politics. Unity is something which everyone wants, and if I win, that will be the crown of all victories, and I'm happy with all my victories," he said.
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