The Bosnian Serb Democratic Party (SDS) replaced its founder Mr Radovan Karadzic as president today and insisted it had turned over a new leaf in a drive to shed its arch-nationalist image.
After 10 years, we turned a new political page. It took courage to make a new beginning, the new party president, Mr Dragan Kalinic, told a party congress.
Analysts and political rivals saw the move as no more than window-dressing in the face of heavy Western pressure on the Serb republic to hand over Mr Karadzic and other fugitives charged with war crimes in Bosnia's 1992-5 war.
The SDS is the biggest and most influential political party in Bosnia's Serb Republic. It has drawn heavy international criticism for reluctance to defuse ethnic tension and reunify the still deeply divided state.
The West distrusts the SDS for alleged links with Mr Karadzic although it expelled him and other war crimes suspects in December. The International Crisis Group think-tank said in its latest report that the SDS still kept ties with Mr Karadzic.
Mr Karadzic founded the party in 1990 and remained its leader until 1996 when he was forced to quit politics under Western pressure. The SDS had since operated a collective presidency.
Political rivals said the move was a purely cosmetic bid to avoid sanctions threatened by Western envoys.