Bosnia votes Sunday in election that could affect EU bid

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SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA — Bosnians are voting on Sunday in elections that could affect their country's European Union membership bid and the influence that the United States and Russia seek over the small Balkan nation.

Voters are casting ballots for the country's central tripartite presidency and national parliament, alongside regional legislative races in its two federal entities.

Some polling stations had to be temporarily closed due to problems with the electronic voting system, Bosnia's Central Election Commission head Jovan Kalaba told reporters in Sarajevo. The commission redesigned ballots and introduced new biometric voter identification and electronic scanners it said were aimed at curbing voting fraud.

Voter frustration has grown over an economic slowdown, the slow pace of EU entry talks and a lingering political crisis in which ethnically based dominant parties from the two entities have repeatedly stalled decisions by the weak central government that links them.

Bosnia, which has struggled to recover from the bloody 1992-95 war, secured EU candidate status in December 2022 and the green light to open accession negotiations in 2024. Actual talks have not started because domestic political leaders have yet to enact core requirements such as bolstering judicial oversight and passing anti-corruption laws.

Preliminary results are expected to be released by the election commission after polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday.

Moving beyond divisive rhetoric

The Bosnian war ended in 1995 with the US-brokered Dayton peace accord, which left the country split along ethnic lines into the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation—linked by the central government and tripartite presidency.

Many voters in the country of 3.4 million people say they want to move beyond the divisive rhetoric, but the politics appears stuck.

The vote pits rival ethnic parties—the Bosniak SDA, Serb SNSD and Croat HDZ BiH—against multi-ethnic opposition coalitions led by the Social Democratic Party.

According to tracking platform Poliwave, the SDA holds a narrow national lead with 21.4%, followed by the SDP on 16.7%. In Republika Srpska, SNSD, the party run by secessionist leader Milorad Dodik, who wants close ties with Serbia and Russia and is at odds with the government in Sarajevo, is ahead with 34.2%.

"We are ... choosing those who can manage certain processes, build society, and make the Republika Srpska peaceful and stable," said Zeljka Cvijanovic, the SNSD candidate who is seeking a second term in the tripartite presidency.

If ethnically based parties prevail and continue their bickering within the central government, the body that would eventually officially join the EU, progress on accession is likely to stall further.

In the capital, Sarajevo, Ismar Garasljevic, a 51-year-old high school teacher, said: "More than 30 years after the war, the situation is still the same; we are talking about nationalism ... The same faces, the same story, constantly."

Kalaba said that voter turnout stood at 11.94% by 11 a.m. (0900 GMT), down from around 15% by the same time during elections in 2022.

Major powers have long sought influence over Bosnia. The EU is seeking to expand its membership across the Balkans, including Bosnia, but Russia is slowing it down, maintaining its support of the Republika Srpska.

The US has also sought influence and wants to push for a $1.5 billion pipeline project to import US liquefied natural gas, run by a company with links to the Trump administration, but the EU warned that the company selection lacked competitive transparency.

Washington has also clashed with Brussels over the role of the international High Representative, who, under provisions of the Dayton accord, enforces the laws. — Reuters

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