Voters elected a tripartite presidency and multiple legislatures on Sunday, with wartime ethnic divides still shaping the main campaigns.
Bosnia and Herzegovina held a general election on Sunday after a campaign dominated by parties tied to the ethnic divisions of the 1990s war, AFP reported. Voters chose officials across several tiers of government created by the 1995 peace settlement.
The central race is for the three-member presidency, shared by Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Parallel votes fill the state House of Representatives, the Federation legislature, and the Republika Srpska presidency and assembly. Frontrunners offered competing visions of a more unified state, greater autonomy for the Serb-run entity, and stronger Croat representation.
Milorad Dodik told a final SNSD rally in Banja Luka on Friday that Bosnia and Herzegovina was an impossible country, AFP reported. Researcher Adnan Cerimagic of the European Stability Initiative told AFP it was not impossible for opposition candidate Branko Blanusa to defeat Dodik-backed Savo Minic in the Republika Srpska presidency race.
Voting started late at dozens of polling stations because of technical problems as the country used biometric identification and ballot scanning for the first time. Polls were due to close at 7 p.m. local time, 17:00 GMT, with first results expected late Sunday.
AFP quoted one voter saying the situation had in some ways never been worse. No official results were included in the agency's opening report.
People Sentiments Mixed
- AFP quoted a voter saying that in some ways the situation had never been worse.
- Dodik told an SNSD rally in Banja Luka that Bosnia and Herzegovina was an impossible country, AFP reported.