Bosnia Holds General Election: New Tripartite Presidency Elected as Dodik's Bloc Wins in Republika Srpska, Turnout Near 42%
According to the Associated Press and Agence Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina held general elections on Sunday, October 4, with about 3.4 million registered voters casting ballots in Sarajevo and across the country to elect the three members of the collective presidency, national and entity parliaments, and the president of Republika Srpska.
Results from Bosnia's Central Election Commission showed the Bosniak seat on the presidency going to incumbent Denis Becirovic of the Social Democratic Party with about 38.1 percent, ahead of Bakir Izetbegovic of the Party of Democratic Action at about 34.0 percent. The Croat seat was won by Darijana Filipovic of the Croatian Democratic Union with about 46.5 percent, and the Serb seat by Zeljka Cvijanovic of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats with about 55.6 percent. Turnout was around 42 percent, down roughly eight to nine points from 2022.
The AP reported that Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik declared victory for his party in Republika Srpska on election night. In the national House of Representatives, the Party of Democratic Action emerged as the largest party with nine seats, but no party won a clear majority.
Agence Europe quoted Adnan Cerimagic, an analyst at the European Stability Initiative, as saying the results strengthen Serb nationalists and risk leaving Bosnia's EU accession process at a standstill. Bosnia became an EU candidate country in December 2022 and was given the green light to open negotiations in March 2024, yet no chapter has been opened, with judicial reform among the main obstacles.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Smooth O / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Presidency building, Sarajevo)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：波黑主席团大楼（萨拉热窝）。摄影：Smooth O，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
