Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH) - Election - 2014
By February 2014 several cities in the Balkan state were gripped by dissent after a local unemployment rally grew into a nationwide protest - the worst outburst of violence since the regional war ended in 1995. The demonstrations began on 04 February 2014, after controversial privatizations of key local industries since 2000 resulted in eventual bankruptcies, leaving much of the working population unemployed. In total 27.5 percent of all Bosnian adults were without a job.
Special forces soldiers used a water cannon 07 February 2014 to drive off protesters trying to storm the presidential residency in Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Demonstrators had set fire to the building and torched police cars stationed around it. Police launched stun grenades and rubber bullets at angry demonstrators, who had been throwing stones and eggs. The most violent clashes are in the northern city of Tuzla, where demonstrators set a government building on fire. Several official were seen escaping from the windows of the burning building. Eyewitnesses report that as many as 6,000 people are on the streets of the city, which has a population of about 80,000.
As protests spread, the demands broadened, with demonstrators asking not just for better economic conditions but for an overhaul of the political system. According to Transparency International Bosnians experience more corruption than any other Balkan state.
The February protests -- which were sparked by the crony privatization of state companies and factory closures -- and the botched way that the country's different government administrations handled flood relief and recovery efforts, including allegations of misused funds, gave fresh hope that this could provide the spark for political change.
Some 3.3 million voters in one of Europe's poorest countries cast their ballots 13 October 2014 to choose candidates for more than 500 posts in a complex and costly system of government set up under Western patronage after the 1992-95 conflict. Bosnian voters had to choose from almost 8,000 candidates standing for 65 parties, 24 coalitions, and a handful of independent lists in the country's two autonomous units.
In the Muslim-Croat Federation, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was 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 was between the multiethnic Social Democrats (SDP) and the main Bosniak party, Democratic Action (SDA).
In Republika Srpska, the competition pitted 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). Once a pro-Western reformer who turned into a nationalist firebrand, Dodic kept pushing the separatist agenda and boasts of his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Social Democrat (SDS) Mladen Ivanic led Zeljko Cvijanovic of the nationalist Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) in a tight race. Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska and head of the SNSD, conceded the race to Ivanic in what was viewed as a major upset for his party.
Bakir Izetbegovic and Dragan Covic were comfortably ahead in the races for the Bosniak and Croatian seats, respectively, on the tripartite presidency. Izetbegovic campaigned on the need for a strong, unified state, while Covic favored the creation of a separate Croat entity within Bosnia.
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