Around 3.4 million voters were eligible to choose officials across several levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday, including members of its multiethnic, tripartite presidency. They also voted for federal lawmakers and leaders of two largely autonomous entities. The ballot put the country’s layered political machinery on display. Preliminary results were expected late Sunday.
A state divided into layers
Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT). Voters chose representatives in a system that splits responsibilities among the multiethnic central government, the self-governing neutral Brcko district and two semi-autonomous entities, which themselves divide into cantons and communities. Political authority sits across multiple institutions, while dominant ethnic parties in the two entities have repeatedly stalled decisions by the weak central government.
The US-brokered 1995 Dayton Peace Accords established that framework, after the 1992-95 Bosnian war that followed Yugoslavia’s breakup. Government structure reflects those divisions. The election campaign unfolded amid prolonged political gridlock, economic slowdown and sluggish progress toward European Union membership.
The Bosniak SDA, Serb SNSD and Croat HDZ BiH faced multi-ethnic opposition coalitions led by the Social Democratic Party. Around half the population are Muslim Bosniaks, 31% are Orthodox Serb and 15% are Catholic Croat. The country has remained peaceful in recent years, but ethnonationalist parties have kept divisions alive. Voters have said they want to move beyond war-era rhetoric and division; the parties competing for power still organize much of the contest around those divisions.
The campaign’s bluntest message
In Republika Srpska, SNSD secessionist leader Milorad Dodik remained influential despite not appearing on the ballot. The former president of the Serb-majority entity cannot hold public office for six years after a conviction for defying the top international envoy overseeing the 1995 peace process. Dodik-backed Savo Minic was running for the entity’s presidency.
Dodik seeks close ties with Serbia and Russia. He had recently returned from Moscow, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin. At his final rally in Banja Luka on Friday, he told supporters: “Bosnia and Herzegovina is dead, it is an impossible country.” Though barred from office, Dodik could still shape the campaign through a backed candidate and a rallying speech. The ballot wasn’t the only measure of influence.
In the Muslim-Croat federation, Bosniak parties advocated a stronger central state. The SDA focused on keeping the country united against Serb separatism, while Bosnian Croats largely backed their ethnic parties, including the Bosnian branch of Croatia’s ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union. Denis Becirovic, the incumbent Bosniak presidency member, pledged a renewed path toward the EU and NATO.
Brussels as destination, not an answer
Bosnia and Herzegovina has held EU membership candidate status since 2022. Reforms, including stronger judicial oversight and anti-corruption laws, must come before membership talks can start. The election therefore took place with entry into the European Union still conditional on changes to the country’s institutions, while sluggish progress toward membership remained part of the political backdrop.
No result is available yet. Nor is there a promise that the election will undo the gridlock. Voters chose officials across a divided system where dominant parties have repeatedly stalled central decisions. Much of the campaign remains organized around ethnic parties, separation and competing promises of unity, secession and a path toward EU and NATO membership. The polls have closed. The machinery they were asked to renew remains in place.