Bosnia Returns the Same Ethnic Parties as Turnout Falls to a Record Low and Dodik Claims a Victory From Off the Ballot

Bosnia and Herzegovina voted on Sunday, and by Tuesday morning the preliminary count says the same thing it has said for years: the ethnic parties that run the country are still the ones people vote for, even as fewer of them turn up to do it.

Turnout was 41.5 per cent, down from 51.5 per cent in 2022, according to the Central Election Commission figures reported by blue News. TRT World puts the fall at nearly ten percentage points, or about 319,000 fewer ballots from an electorate of 3.4 million. The results are preliminary, and none of them has been certified.

Who won the Bosnia presidency?

The country is led collectively by a three-member presidency, one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb. In the Bosniak seat, Denis Becirovic of the Social Democrats kept his job with 38.1 per cent, ahead of Bakir Izetbegovic of the SDA on 34 per cent, blue News reports. European Western Balkans notes that Izetbegovic conceded and congratulated him. Becirovic said the country's path toward the EU and NATO "must be resolutely continued".

In the Serb seat, Zeljka Cvijanovic of Milorad Dodik's SNSD was re-elected with about 55 per cent, well ahead of Marinko Bozovic of the SDS. In the Croat seat, Darijana Filipovic of the HDZ BiH won with 48.2 per cent over the Social Democrat Slaven Kovacevic on 28.8 per cent. She is the only new face on the presidency and succeeds Zeljko Komsic.

What happened to Milorad Dodik's party?

Dodik was not on the ballot. He was removed as president of Republika Srpska last year over separatist activities, and he was still the loudest voice in the campaign. His SNSD took about 39 per cent in the Republika Srpska parliamentary vote, up from 34.6 per cent in 2022, according to blue News, and its candidate Savo Minic won the entity's presidency, 202,245 votes to 160,935 for Branko Blanusa in the commission's first count. Blanusa conceded on election night.