Posted Oct 3, 2022, 7:46 AM
Ethno-religious divisions, financial difficulties, corruption… and now electoral confusion. Bosnia and Herzegovina emerges more divided than ever from the general elections held on Sunday in this small Balkan country. The ballot should make it possible to renew the country’s tripartite presidency, as well as the government of the two entities that make up the country, the Republika Srspka (Serb and Orthodox) on the one hand, the Croat-Muslim Federation (Bosnian and Croatian) of other.
The first surprise came from the Serbian side. Incumbent Republika Srspka President Milorad Dodik and his nemesis Jelena Trivic both claimed victory as the Electoral Commission continued its vote count late into the night. “It’s the victory of the people,” said the professor of economics, while her opponent accused her of lacking “seriousness”.
Milorad Dodik, who is aiming for a third term, has multiplied secessionist threats in recent months, which have earned him sanctions from Washington and London, while repeatedly repeating that Bosnia was a “failed” country. Jelena Trivic has promised to eradicate corruption while playing a nationalist score.
On the other hand, the victory of Zeljka Cvijanovic, a very close ally of Milorad Dodik, is not disputed. This 55-year-old lawyer will succeed him in the Serbian chair of the tripartite presidency, which oversees the two entities of the country.
Bitter defeat for the leader of the SDA
On the Bosnian side (Muslim), Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the nationalist SDA which has dominated political life for decades, suffered a crushing defeat. Denis Becirovic, a 46-year-old social-democratic history professor supported by eleven opposition parties, who campaigns for a “pro-European and united” Bosnia, obtained closer to 56% of the vote against 39% for his opponent, according to the preliminary results of the electoral commission.
On the Croatian (Catholic) side, the landslide victory of Zeljko Komsic, who obtains his fourth term as collegiate president, could also cause new disturbances. Flag bearer of a “citizen” Bosnia, he is appreciated by Muslims but hated by a large number of Croats who deny him any legitimacy to represent this community. For months, the Croatian parties, the conservative HDZ in the lead, have been calling for a modification of the electoral rules, which allow the Bosnians, who are the large majority demographically within the common entity, to de facto elect the Croatian member to the collegiate presidency.
Towards institutional reform
Just after the polls closed, the International High Representative Christian Schmidt announced reforms in the Croatian-Muslim entity where no government could be appointed after the last elections in 2018 due to disagreements between the two communities. . “These measures aim to improve the functionality of (the entity) and to ensure the prompt implementation of the election results”, said in a press release the High Representative, endowed with significant discretionary powers in Bosnia.
Indeed, Bosnia is governed according to a dysfunctional system inherited from the Dayton peace accords which ended the inter-community war in 1995. The country is divided between Republika Srpska and a Croat-Muslim federation, linked by a weak central power often paralyzed. In the nearly three decades since the conflict that claimed 100,000 lives, the main parties have exploited ethnic divisions to hold on to power.
With AFP
