At the 2018 general election, held on 7 October 2018, Dodik was elected to Bosnia's three-person Presidency, representing the Serbs, after ousting incumbent Bosnian Serb presidency member Mladen Ivanić. In the first month of his presidency, Dodik had a confrontation with the newly elected Bosniak Presidency member Šefik Džaferović, with Dodik stating he would not attend the first Presidency session under the new leadership until the flag of Republika Srpska, the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was put in his office. He eventually relented, agreeing to hold the session with only the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.