Bosnia Prepares for Polls in Pessimistic Mood

Parties start putting forward their candidates on Wednesday for the October 12 polls, at which voters will cast ballots for the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Representatives of the state-level parliament and the parliament of the Federation entity, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska and its president and vice-president, as well as assemblies of the ten cantons within the Federation entity. 

Amid the usual complexities of the country’s labyrinthine political system, Sarajevo-based political analyst Almir Terzic told Balkan Insight on that he expects politics as usual during the pre-election campaigns because most of the main parties are pushing the same policies. 

“We can openly say that the focus of the election campaigns... will be on ethnic-national concepts and on spreading fear and hatred in order to win the elections again,” Terzic said. 

“We cannot expect that there will be any kind of positive changes in the transparency of the elections due to the complicated electoral system,” he added.

Terzic also said that “discriminatory elements” remained in the electoral system, referring to a 2009 European Court of Human Rights ruling regarding the electoral rights of minorities.

The ruling told Bosnia to change its constitution and laws and allow minorities run for the top governing posts currently reserved only for candidates of the three largest ethnic groups, the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats – but it has yet to be implemented.

Many parties are expected to use the recent devastating floods as a significant element of their campaigns.

“The floods will be one of the assets the parties will try to show the citizens as an example of their efforts to help them...