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Voting Ends In Key Elections In Bosnia-Herzegovina

October 12, 2014
by RFE/RL

Voting has ended in parliamentary and presidential elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina for more than 500 political posts.

The elections are seen as key to breaking a political stalemate in the country.

By the close of polls, just over half of Bosnia's 3.3 million eligible voters had cast ballots.

Voters were casting their ballots to choose a three-member presidency and a national parliament, as well as lawmakers and leaders of Bosnia's two entities -- the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

In the Muslim-Croat Federation, voters also are choosing lawmakers for parliaments of 10 self-administered cantons.

There are nearly 8,000 candidates standing for 65 parties, 24 coalitions, and independent lists in the country's two autonomous entities.

The elections follow violent civil unrest in February, sparked by corruption and poverty, amid widespread discontent with the authorities' reaction to catastrophic floods that hit the country in May, and as ethnic divisions stemming from the war continue to block reforms.

In Republika Srpska, the competition pits incumbent President Milorad Dodik and a coalition dominated by his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) against a bloc led by the Serb Democratic Party (SDS).

Dodik said after casting his ballot that he expects the elections 'to confirm the stability of Republika Srpska.'

Once a pro-Western reformer who has turned into a nationalist firebrand, Dodic keeps pushing the separatist agenda and boasts of his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The SDS accuses Dodik's administration of corruption and dismisses separatist talk.

​​The party, which was founded by war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, led Bosnian Serbs during the war as they attempted to secede from newly independent Bosnia.

In the Muslim-Croat Federation, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is expected to continue its dominance among the Croats, who still hope for the establishment of their own region.

Among the Muslim Bosniaks, who generally want stronger central government, the primary contest will be between the multiethnic Social Democrats (SDP) and the main Bosniak party, Democratic Action (SDA).

Bakir Izetbegovic, bidding for another term as the Bosniak member of Bosnia's presidency, said on October 12 that it is 'high time to end the standstill and I think that politicians have matured enough to come out of this vicious cycle.'

Ognjen Tadic, an opposition presidential candidate in Republika Srpska, said he expects 'changes' and that a high turnout means 'changes are coming.'

Dragan Covic, an ethnic Croatian candidate to Bosnia's tripartite presidency, said he thinks 'that finally we have to understand that we live next to each other and that Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot be partitioned, regardless of various speculations, just as the town of Mostar cannot be divided.'

The current governing system resulted from a constitutional arrangement that was part of the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the country's 1992-95 war.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/bosnia-elections-/26633630.html

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.