Rajko Kuzmanović

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Cyrillic ( Serbian )
	Рајко Кузмановић
Latin :	Rajko Kuzmanović

Rajko Kuzmanović (born December 1, 1931 in Čelinac near Banja Luka ) is a Bosnian politician. From December 2007 to November 2010 he was President of the Republika Srpska within Bosnia-Herzegovina .

After training as a teacher, Kuzmanović studied law in Zagreb . At the same time he also studied sociology and pedagogy . He finished his law studies in Zagreb in 1977 and then obtained his doctorate at the Faculty of Law in Mostar .

Since the establishment of the Law Institute of the University of Banja Luka in 1975, Kuzmanović has taught public law and comparative political science . From 1983 to 1985 he was dean of the Faculty of Law and from 1996 to 2000 dean of the Faculty of Business Administration . At times he was also Vice Chancellor and Chancellor of the university.

From 1994, in addition to teaching at the university, Kuzmanović was also a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republika Srpska . In 1998 he was appointed its president.

In 2007, Kuzmanović took part in the presidential elections of the Republika Srpska for the Federation of Independent Social Democrats . The election was scheduled after President Milan Jelić died unexpectedly after a heart attack . At the polls on December 9th, Kuzmanović was able to unite almost 42% of the votes and thus won the election. His main rival, Ognjen Tadić from the Serbian Democratic Party , won 35% of the vote. The swearing-in took place on December 28, 2007.

As President of the Republika Srpska, Kuzmanović spoke out against further strengthening of the central government in Sarajevo and called for some powers to be returned to the states. His election strengthened the power of the League of Independent Social Democrats, which now held the office of head of state and, with Milorad Dodik, that of government.

In the 2010 elections, Kuzmanović declined to run. He was succeeded by Milorad Dodik, the new Prime Minister Aleksandar Džombić .

Kuzmanović is married. In addition to Serbian , he speaks fluent Russian .