General elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina: low turnout by 15:00, opposition denounces pressure

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina went to the polls today in the tenth general elections since the end of the war, as the Serbian newspaper Danas reports. At more than 5,500 polling stations, around 3.4 million citizens were entitled to vote.

According to the Central Electoral Commission (CIK), by 15:00 a total of 916,269 voters had cast their ballots, or 26.88 per cent. Four years ago, at the same hour, 1,164,261 citizens had voted, a turnout of 35 per cent — about 8.12 percentage points fewer this year. In Republika Srpska, 31.62 per cent voted, in the Federation 24.78 per cent and in the Brčko District 24.62 per cent. Polling stations close at 19:00, with extensions where voting started late.

The process was accompanied by problems: the non-governmental coalition "Pod lupom" announced that by midday 61 serious violations of electoral rules had been registered — from obstruction of observers and problems with the new technologies and electoral materials, to violations of ballot secrecy. Because of the new scanners at polling stations, the opening of hundreds of stations was delayed; in Republika Srpska, according to the entity’s police, 201 of 1,957 stations did not open on time at 07:00. The Serb Democratic Party (SDS) demanded an immediate end to pressure on voters and observers in Zvornik, Danas reports.

Citizens are electing the composition of the three-member Presidency of BiH, the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly, the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, the president and vice-presidents of Republika Srpska, and the assemblies of the ten cantons of the Federation. The most uncertain race, according to Danas, is that for president of Republika Srpska, between Savo Minić of the SNSD and Branko Blanuša of the SDS; for the Serb member of the Presidency, Željka Cvijanović (SNSD), Marinko Božović (SDS) and Nebojša Vukanović are running. In the Federation, Denis Bećirović is seeking a second term as the Bosniak member of the Presidency against Bakir Izetbegović, while Slaven Kovačević and Darijana Filipović, who is also backed by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, are running for the Croat member.

These are the first elections held with new electoral technology: identification is done by document and then by biometric fingerprint verification, while voters in the Federation receive seven ballot papers and in Republika Srpska six. The campaign was dominated by the themes of relations between the two entities, the economy and the future of the country — and the result is expected to influence not only internal relations, but also Sarajevo’s relations with the European Union and international partners, Danas concludes.