Polls have now closed in Bosnia’s general election on Sunday, where preliminary results remain unclear, and the country is awaiting further updates in the coming hours for a clearer picture of the outcome. Some 3.4 million voters had the right to elect the three members of the multi-ethnic presidency, national legislators and the leaders of the country’s two entities: the Muslim-majority Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska. The complex system of institutions was created by the 1995 peace agreement, brokered by the United States, to manage divisions between Bosnian Muslims, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. Early reports show that voting was delayed at several polling locations due to problems with new digital voting technology, which was introduced to address earlier concerns about vote tampering. The Bosnian Electoral Commission made this decision to extend the voting limit to 7 pm in polling stations that experienced problems. The election comes as many citizens of the multi-ethnic Balkan state face daily problems, while some prominent politicians stoke wartime tensions that have kept the country divided since the 1992-95 conflict. By 3 p.m., around 27% of voters had cast their votes, according to the commission, compared to 35% at the same time during the last national elections. New election security measures For the first time, authorities used electronic voter identification and ballot scanning to curb irregularities and organized manipulation that undermined confidence in previous elections. Most of the 75 parties running are organized along ethnic lines. The Bosnian Nationalist Democratic Action Party has campaigned to keep Bosnia united against Serbian separatism, while many Bosnian Croats support ethnic parties such as the local branch of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union of Croatia. Izetbegovic, who was defeated by Becirovic in 2022, is seeking a third term as president of the center-right SDA, the country’s largest Bosnian party. Many disillusioned citizens say politicians use nationalism to avoid addressing real problems such as low living standards and the exodus of youth. Ivan Silic, a voter from Mostar, said that nothing has improved since he first voted and that politicians live well while everyone else’s situation remains the same. Dodik looms large despite not being on ballot Despite not being on the ballot, the campaign has been dominated by Milorad Dodik, the separatist and pro-Russian former president of Republika Srpska. Dodik has been banned from holding public office after being found guilty of defying the international envoy overseeing the peace deal. Fresh from meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Dodik leads a party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, that is likely to win in the Republika Srpska. At a final rally on Friday in Banja Luka, attended by Russian Ambassador Igor Khalabukov, Dodik declared that Bosnia is “dead” and “an impossible country.” “It doesn’t make any sense,” he stressed. Out of the polls for the first time in almost 30 years, he is still in charge and present in the country’s media, says analyst Dragan Bursac. According to Bursac, the ban does not work and Dodik takes advantage of it. Ethnic tensions continue to rise. Bosnia has been peaceful in recent years, but its politicians have kept ethnic divisions alive. Bosnian Serb leaders like Dodik have pushed for their entity to break away, raising fears in the West of new instability. The Balkan nation remains one of the poorest countries in Europe, still recovering from a war that began after it declared independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia and ethnic Serbs took up arms to forge their own state. That conflict killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions. The country is formally seeking membership in the European Union, but progress has stalled despite the EU’s efforts to pressure its leaders toward reform. The great powers continue to influence the socioeconomic and political life of the small Balkan nation. Russia is slowing the EU’s efforts to expand its membership throughout the Balkans, including Bosnia, while continuing to support the Republika Srpska. While a corporation with ties to the Trump administration is pushing a $1.5 billion pipeline project to import American liquefied natural gas as part of the United States’ efforts to gain influence. And recently, the wounds of war were reopened with public tributes in Serbia and among Bosnian Serbs to Ratko Mladic, the wartime army commander who died in late August while serving a life sentence for genocide and other war crimes. Bosnian Serbs consider him a hero, despite his conviction before a UN court for the murder of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. Senior Bosnian Serb officials attended his funeral in Belgrade, drawing harsh criticism from the EU and angering Bosnian politicians.
