Bosnia election today: Complex system – expert sees “the most serious political crisis”

Created: 2022-10-02 07:07

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

Parliamentary elections will take place in Bosnia on Sunday.

Deep ethnic divisions in the country overshadow the complex vote.

The news ticker.

Munich/Sarajevo – The Dayton Peace Agreement sponsored by the USA ended the bloody civil war in Bosnia in 1995 after three and a half years.

At the same time, however, the agreement created one of the most complex political systems in the world.

The goal: All ethnic groups - Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians - should participate in the political process.

Now the country goes to the ballot box on Sunday (October 2) to determine the three-member Presidency Council.

The election in Bosnia is as complicated as the country itself. The Balkan country is divided into a Serbian and a Croatian-Muslim state, and there is also a central government in Sarajevo.

The Croatian-Muslim state itself is divided into ten subjects.

The political system consists of 14 governments and 136 ministers.

Bosnia election: who will be elected?

At the level of the state institutions, the electorate determines the two chambers of the central parliament and the three-member presidency.

It is occupied by a Croat, a Bosniak Muslim and a Serb, who take turns as chair every eight months.

In the Republic of Srpska, the Serbian part of the country, the regional deputies as well as the president and his two deputies are elected.

In the Muslim-Croatian federation, elections are taking place for a bicameral parliament, which will then appoint a president and two vice-presidents.

The voters also choose the members of the assemblies of the ten cantons that make up the federation.

According to the Central Electoral Commission of Bosnia (CIK), a total of 127 political subjects are on the ballot paper on Sunday: 72 political parties, 38 coalitions and 17 independent candidates.

The total number of candidates for the 2022 election is 7258 names.

Ten of these individuals are running for election to the three-member Council of Presidents.

Bosnia election: who is running for the Presidency Council?

While Serb Bosnians have a choice of five candidates, the Bosniak side has three and the Croatian side has only two candidates.

Still, a heated race is expected between both the Bosniak and Croatian candidates.

Previously, nationalist hardliner Milorad Dodik was also on the list of Serbian candidates.

On Sunday, however, he now wants to be elected President of the Republic of Srpska (RS), Bosnia's Serbian entity, instead - a post he has already held twice.

His party colleague and the current president of the RS, Zeljka Cvijanovic, replaces him as a candidate on the Serbian list.

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Victory seems certain to Dodik and it can be assumed that as President of the RS he will continue his policy of secession.

For the past four years, Dodik has been a member of Bosnia's three-man presidency, but that hasn't stopped him from proclaiming his contempt for the "failed country" at every opportunity.

Dodik is also considered a friend of the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.

Previously, he received financial support from the head of the Kremlin.

The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already advertised him.

• Bosniak candidates:

  Mirsad Hadzikadic, Bakir Izetbegovic, Denis Bekirovic

• Croatian candidates:

  Borjana Kristo, Zeljko Komsic

• Serbian candidates:

  Borislav Bijelic, Zeljka Cvijanovic, Mirko Sarovic, Vojin Mijatovic, Nenad Nesic

Bosnia election: What prospects does the country have?

"Bosnia-Herzegovina is experiencing the worst political crisis since the signing of the peace agreement," said political expert Ranko Mavrak from Sarajevo, adding: "The ethnic divisions are so deep that they pose a real threat to Bosnia's survival and integrity."

The EU, which Bosnia wants to join, has called on the country's different governments to "speak with one voice".

But this goal remains a long way off.

The ongoing power struggle is exacerbated by the different aspirations of the main ethnic groups for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosniak Muslims tend to be more centralized, while Serbs in the Republic of Srpska insist on their autonomy.

The Croats, on the other hand, are increasingly frustrated with their position in the federation - some are calling for their own third state.