<p><em>Edited by: Natalie Muller</em></p>
<p>Polls closed in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday evening, with around 3.4 million voters eligible to take part in the Balkan country's general election.</p>
<p>Citizens are electing officials across multiple tiers of government, including members of the multiethnic, tripartite presidency.</p>
<p>They will also choose lawmakers for the federal parliament and the heads of institutions for the country's two largely autonomous entities — the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb-run Republika Srpska.</p>
<p>The election comes at a time when the country is struggling with a number of challenges. There's been an economic slowdown, sluggish progress toward EU membership, and a long-drawn-out political gridlock, with the ethnically based dominant parties from the two entities repeatedly stalling decisions by the weak central government that links them.</p>
<p>The election will see adversary ethnic parties, the Bosniak SDA, Serb SNSD and Croat HDZ BiH, pitted against multi-ethnic opposition coalitions led by the Social Democratic Party.</p>
<p>Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), with preliminary results expected to be released late Sunday.</p>
<h2>What is the system that governs Bosnia-Herzegovina?</h2>
<p>The economic, administrative and political responsibilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are divided between the multiethnic central government, two semi-autonomous entities, and the self-governing neutral Brcko district.</p>
<p>Both entities are further split into several cantons and communities.</p>
<p>The complicated framework — divided along ethnic lines — was set up during the US-brokered 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, following the 1992-95 Bosnian war which was triggered by the breakup of Yugoslavia.</p>
<h2>Simmering ethnic tensions</h2>
<p>Currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina's populace, around half are Muslim Bosniaks, while 31% are Orthodox Serb and 15% are Catholic Croat.</p>
<p>The country has been peaceful in recent years but its ethnonationalist parties have kept the divisions alive even as voters say they want to move on from the war-era rhetoric and division.</p>
<h2>Milorad Dodik not on the ballot but still dominant in Republika Srpska</h2>
<p>In Republika Srpska, secessionist leader Milorad Dodik of the SNSD party remains the key figure despite not being on the ballot.</p>
<p>Dodik, the former president of the Serb-majority entity, is barred from holding public office for six years after being convicted of defying the top international envoy overseeing the 1995 peace process.</p>
<p>Dodik-backed Savo Minic is running for the Republika Srpska's presidency.</p>
<p>Dodik wants close ‌ties with Serbia and Russia. He has just returned from Moscow where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin.</p>
<p>"Bosnia and Herzegovina is dead, it is an impossible country," Dodik told supporters at the final rally of his in Banja Luka on Friday.</p>
<h2>What is happening in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina?</h2>
<p>In the Muslim-Croat federation, Bosniak parties are advocating for a stronger central state.</p>
<p>The main Bosniak SDA party is focused on efforts to keep the country united against Serb separatism.</p>
<p>Bosnian Croats are also largely backing their ethnic parties, including the Bosnian branch of Croatia's ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Denis Becirovic, the incumbent Bosniak presidency member, has vowed a renewed path to the EU and NATO.</p>
<h2>EU ambitions</h2>
<p>Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a candidate for EU membership since 2022.</p>
<p>But the actual start of membership talks depends on the prior implementation of numerous reforms, including strengthening judicial oversight and passing anti-corruption laws.</p>
<p><em>Disclaimer: This report first appeared on <strong>Deutsche Welle</strong>, and has been republished on <strong>ABP Live</strong> as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by <strong>ABP Live.</strong></em></p>
source https://news.abplive.com/news/world/bosnia-election-2026-3-4-million-voters-cast-ballots-amid-political-crisis-1869741
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