There was a setback for nationalist candidates in Bosnia’s presidential election on Sunday. According to partial results published in the evening, both Bosnian and Bosnian Croats are likely to be represented by pro-European politicians in the state presidency. The success of Bosnian Denis Becirovic was surprising. Only among the Bosnian Serbs won the nationalist candidate Zeljka Cvijanovic.
The head of the ruling Bosnian SDA party, Bakir Izetbegovic, was a Bosnian member of the state presidium. After counting 84 percent of the vote, the son of the state’s founder, Alija Izetbegovic, was clearly defeated by Social Democrat Denis Becirovic, who is supported by an eleven-party alliance. Becirovic got 56% of the votes, Izetbegovic 39%. In the Bosnian Croats, incumbent Zeljko Komsic even prevailed with 71 to 29 percent against his nationalist opponent Borjana Kristo.
Cvijanovic, who was ahead of opposition politician Mirko Sarovic with 60 to 35 percent, is likely to be the Serbian representative in the state presidency. Cvijavnovic is a comrade in arms of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who previously held the state presidency for his ethnic group. The election for president of the Serbian entity Republika Srpska looks explosive: Milorad Dodik, who is also viewed critically in Europe for his closeness to Vladimir Putin, is aiming for a return to his former post as president in the election. However, things are obviously getting tight for him: as Bosnian broadcaster N1 reports, the conservative PDP – a sort of sister party to the CDU/CSU – sees its candidate Jelena Trivić ahead after counting 40% of the vote. Dodik rejects this.
Changes in the electoral law
Bosnian representative Christian Schmidt announced changes to the electoral law on Sunday night. The changes pertain exclusively to the constitution of the indirectly elected bodies in most of the country, the Bosnian-Croatian Federation. Thus, the number of representatives of the three state peoples in the popular chamber of the federal parliament will be increased from 17 to 23, the number of representatives of minorities from seven to eleven. This aims to improve the representation of the peoples of the state in all ten cantons of the federation.
complicated government
After the war ended in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina was created as an extremely complicated state on several levels. The bodies that are determined in the so-called “general elections” are correspondingly diverse. It is disputed that only Muslims, Serbs and Croats are represented in the leadership of the state. The European Court of Human Rights had already ruled in 2009 that the highest office in the state should also be open to representatives of minorities.
In addition to the state presidency, the three parliaments are also elected: the state parliament and the parliaments of the two parts of the country – the Bosnian-Croatian Federation and the Republic of Srpska. In the federation, citizens also vote for members of ten cantonal parliaments. The election of the president of the territorial unit is also held in the Republic of Srpska.
According to the State Electoral Commission (CIK), 14% of those eligible to vote participated in the polls until 11 am. That’s three percent more than in 2018, when share at the end of the day was just over 54 percent. About 3.3 million citizens were entitled to vote. The polling stations were open until 19:00.
Form completed in advance
Voting at a polling station in the village of Hozici in the Republic of Srpska had to be temporarily suspended after the discovery of pre-filled ballot papers at the polling station. The non-governmental organization “Unter der Magnifier” spoke of a serious violation of the electoral law. The chief prosecutor responsible for Hozici in Novi Grad, Mladen Mitrovic, announced that all five members of the electoral committee had been arrested. In Zvornik, also in the Republic of Srpska, according to the chairman of the municipal electoral commission, Mutafa Arifovic, the problems were caused by members of electoral commissions in individual polling stations who simply gave up their duties.