Elected pro-European – Setback for nationalists in Bosnia elections

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In Sunday’s Bosnian presidential election, there was a setback for nationalist candidates. Both Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks are likely to be represented by pro-European politicians in the state presidency, according to partial results published in the evening. The success of Bosnian Denis Becirovic was surprising. Only among the Bosnian Serbs did the nationalist candidate Zeljka Cvijanovic win.

The head of the dominant Bosnian party SDA, Bakir Izetbegovic, was a Bosnian member of the state presidency. After tallying 84 percent of the vote, the son of the state’s founder, Alija Izetbegovic, was clearly defeated by Social Democrats Denis Becirovic, who is backed by an 11-party alliance. Becirovic received 56 percent of the vote, Izetbegovic 39 percent. At the Bosnian Croats, incumbent Zeljko Komsic even won with 71 to 29 percent of his nationalist challenger Borjana Kristo.

Amendment of the electoral law
Cvijanovic, who was 60 to 35 percent ahead of opposition politician Mirko Sarovic, is likely to become Serbia’s representative in the state presidency. Cvijavnovic is a comrade in arms of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who previously held the state presidency for his ethnic group. In the elections, Dodik aims to return to his former position as President of the Republic of Srpska.

Bosnian representative Christian Schmidt announced changes to the electoral law on Sunday evening. The changes concern only the composition of the indirectly elected bodies in the largest part of the country, the Bosnian Croat Federation. Accordingly, the number of representatives of the three state peoples in the People’s Chamber of the Federal Parliament will be increased from 17 to 23, the number of minority representatives from seven to eleven. This is intended to improve the representation of the peoples of the state in all ten cantons of the federation.

Extremely complicated political system
After the end of the war in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina was set up as an extremely complicated state on several levels. The bodies determined in the so-called “general elections” are correspondingly diverse. It is disputed that only Muslims, Serbs and Croats are represented in the state leadership. The European Court of Human Rights had already ruled in 2009 that the highest office in the state should also be open to representatives of minorities.

In addition to the state presidency, the three parliaments are also elected: the state parliament and the parliaments of the two parts of the country – the Bosnian Croat Federation and the Republic of Srpska. In the federation, citizens also vote for the members of ten cantonal parliaments. The election of the President of the Territorial Unit is also held in the Republic of Srpska.

Pre-filled ballots discovered
According to the State Election Commission (CIK), 14 percent of eligible voters took part in the polls at 11 a.m. That’s three percent more than in 2018, when turnout at the end of the day was just over 54 percent. About 3.3 million citizens had the right to vote. The polling stations were open until 7 p.m.

Voting at a polling station in the village of Hozici in the Republic of Srpska had to be temporarily suspended after pre-filled ballots were discovered at the polling station. The non-governmental organization “Unter der Magnifier” spoke of a serious violation of the electoral law. The chief prosecutor in charge of Hozici in Novi Grad, Mladen Mitrovic, announced that all five members of the electoral committee had been arrested. In Zvornik, also in the Republic of Srpska, according to the chairman of the municipal electoral commission, Mutafa Arifovic, problems were caused by members of electoral committees in individual polling stations who simply resigned their duties.

Source: Krone

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