Former president of Bosnia's Serb statelet Milorad Dodik was not on the ballot but remains a central figure in the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska. (EPA Images pic)

SARAJEVO: The former president of Bosnia's Serb statelet, Milorad Dodik, said his party had retained power in the entity and its seat on the shared presidency, as preliminary results showed a drop in turnout for Bosnia's general elections.

It was the first major declaration for a dizzying number of posts to be decided in the general elections in a complex system that has held the partitioned Balkan country together since the 1995 peace deal.

The key race is for the tripartite presidency, split between Bosnian Muslims or Bosniaks, and the Serb and Croat ethnic groups. Dodik's Serb nationalists ran on a platform of greater autonomy and secessionist rhetoric.