General elections are held today in Bosnia and Herzegovina; reflect well the political and ethnic divisions that characterize the former Yugoslav republic more than 25 years after the end of the war. The three-person state presidency is elected, consisting of a Bosnian, a Serb and a Croatian; the parliaments of the two constituent states, the Bosnia-Croat Federation and the Serbian constituent state; the president is also elected there, while the ten cantons are still elected in the federation. The diversity of political representation bodies is also reflected in the number of campaign groups campaigning for the estimated 3.4 million eligible voters, of whom around 63,000 live abroad. There are 127 lists, including 72 parties, 38 coalitions and 17 independent candidates. Despite this formal diversity, the political elite in this Balkan country has barely changed over the past 15 years. It is already a bad tradition that the most important parties of three ethnicities block each other after the election, and that it often takes years to form a government, especially in the Federation. The elections are also overshadowed by the war in Ukraine, which has led to high tensions between Russia and the West.
