Polls close in Bosnia-Herzegovina's divisive election
Zeljka Cvijanovic, the Serb nationalist candidate backed by disqualified secessionist leader Milorad Dodik, took the lead for the Serb seat of the three-member presidency.
Polls closed in Bosnia and Herzegovina's general election on Sunday evening, with around 3.4 million eligible voters casting their ballots. The election saw citizens voting for officials at various government levels, including the multiethnic, tripartite presidency. Early leads in the presidential race were seen by Serb nationalist Zeljka Cvijanovic, Bosniak moderate leftist Denis Becirovic, and Croat nationalist Darijana Filipovic.
Cvijanovic had been supported by Milorad Dodik, the former secessionist leader of Republika Srpska, who is barred from public office for six years due to a conviction related to the 1995 peace process. Voters also elected lawmakers for the federal parliament and heads of institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina's two autonomous entities - the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb-run Republika Srpska.
The country is grappling with economic decline, slow progress towards EU membership, and ongoing political deadlock between ethnically based dominant parties. The election pits adversary ethnic parties against multi-ethnic opposition coalitions and features voters desiring a move away from war-era rhetoric and divisions. Ethnic breakdown in Bosnia and Herzegovina is 50% Muslim Bosniaks, 31% Orthodox Serbs, and 15% Catholic Croats.
The country's complex political framework, established during the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, consists of a multiethnic central government, two semi-autonomous entities, and the neutral Brcko district.
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