They were the third general elections in Republika Srpska since the end of Bosnian War.

After refusing to nominate Milorad Dodik as prime minister, President Nikola Poplašen was deposed in 1999 after less than a year in position by Carlos Westendorp, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the meantime Poplašen's Serbian Radical Party was banned from elections.

The presidential election was won by Mirko Šarović from the Serb Democratic Party, who had been in power during the war years.

[3] In the parliamentary election, the Serb Democratic Party won the most seats for the fourth time in a row.