Bosnia’s general election is taking place against a backdrop of political deadlock, ethnic divisions and a stalled European Union membership bid, with around 3.4 million voters choosing the country’s three-member presidency, national lawmakers and representatives of its two constituent entities.
Voting began on Sunday, October 4, across Bosnia and Herzegovina. The election covers the country’s central institutions as well as political bodies in the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, a complicated system created by the US-brokered Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 war.
The election is taking place as many voters remain focused on economic difficulties, low living standards and the continuing departure of young people, while political leaders continue to campaign heavily around ethnic identity and divisions rooted in the war.
For the first time, authorities are using biometric voter identification and electronic ballot scanners as part of an effort to reduce fraud and organised manipulation. The ballots themselves remain on paper, but voters are identified electronically and the ballots are scanned. The new system was intended to make the process more secure and transparent, although technical problems delayed voting at some polling stations on Sunday.
Bosnia’s Central Election Commission said some polling stations had to temporarily close because of problems with the electronic system. In Republika Srpska, the entity’s interior ministry reported delays at 201 of its 1,957 polling stations.
The election campaign has also highlighted how deeply Bosnia’s political system remains divided along ethnic lines. Of the 75 parties contesting the election, most are organised around the interests of Bosniaks, Serbs or Croats. The Bosniak nationalist Party of Democratic Action has campaigned around keeping the country united in the face of Serb separatism, while many Bosnian Croats continue to support ethnic parties, including the local branch of Croatia’s ruling Croatian Democratic Union.
Among the most closely watched contests is the race for the Bosniak seat on the three-member presidency. Bakir Izetbegovic, leader of the Party of Democratic Action, is seeking a return to the presidency after losing to Denis Becirovic in 2022. Becirovic is also seeking another term.
But the person who has dominated the campaign is not even on the ballot.
Milorad Dodik, the former president of Republika Srpska and leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, remains one of the most influential figures in Bosnian politics despite being barred from public office. His conviction followed his defiance of decisions by the international official responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement.
Dodik has continued to lead his party’s political campaign and recently travelled to Moscow, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin. His party is seeking to retain its position in Republika Srpska, where Dodik has repeatedly advocated close relations with Serbia and Russia and has pushed for greater autonomy, including calls for the entity to separate from Bosnia.
At a final campaign rally in Banja Luka on Friday, attended by Russia’s ambassador to Bosnia, Igor Khalabukov, Dodik declared that Bosnia was “dead” and called it “an impossible country.”
Political analyst Dragan Bursac said Dodik’s absence from the ballot had not removed him from the political contest. Although this is the first election in almost three decades in which Dodik is not a candidate, Bursac said he remains central to the campaign and continues to exert control over his political movement.
The wider political dispute is rooted in Bosnia’s unusual post-war structure. The 1995 Dayton agreement ended a conflict that killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions. It left Bosnia divided into two main entities, the predominantly Bosniak and Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the predominantly Serb Republika Srpska, while creating shared institutions including the three-member presidency and central parliament.
That arrangement brought an end to the fighting but also created a system in which political power is closely tied to ethnic representation. Bosnian Serb leaders, particularly Dodik, have repeatedly challenged the authority of central institutions and promoted greater independence for Republika Srpska. Western governments have warned that such moves could threaten stability in the Balkans.
For many voters, however, the political arguments surrounding nationalism and the country’s constitutional structure are increasingly disconnected from their daily concerns. Economic stagnation, weak public institutions and the departure of young people have added to frustration with established political parties. Reuters reported that voter frustration has grown alongside the slow pace of EU accession talks and repeated political blockages between the country’s main ethnic parties.
Bosnia’s European ambitions are another major issue hanging over the election. The country received EU candidate status in December 2022 and was given the green light to open accession negotiations in 2024. Actual negotiations have not begun because Bosnia has yet to complete key reforms, including measures related to judicial oversight and anti-corruption legislation.
The election is therefore being watched beyond Bosnia itself. The European Union wants to expand its influence in the Western Balkans, while Russia has maintained close relations with Republika Srpska and continued to support Dodik. The United States is also seeking greater influence, including through a proposed $1.5 billion pipeline project designed to bring US liquefied natural gas into the region. The project has drawn questions from EU officials over the transparency of the company selection process.
The competition between outside powers has added another layer to Bosnia’s political disputes. Washington and Brussels have also disagreed over the role of the international High Representative, an official created under the Dayton framework with powers to enforce aspects of the peace agreement.
The legacy of the war has remained particularly visible during the election period. Recent public tributes in Serbia and among Bosnian Serbs to Ratko Mladic, the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander who died in August while serving a life sentence, revived painful disputes over the conflict. Mladic was convicted by a UN tribunal of genocide and other war crimes, including responsibility for the 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.
Senior Bosnian Serb officials attended Mladic’s funeral in Belgrade, prompting criticism from the European Union and anger among Bosniak politicians. The controversy showed how quickly wartime memories can return to the centre of Bosnia’s political debate, more than three decades after the conflict began.
For voters, the election offers a choice within a political system that remains heavily shaped by the divisions of the past. The immediate issues are familiar: the economy, public services, corruption, political accountability and the country’s uncertain path toward the European Union. Yet the campaign has again shown how difficult it remains for Bosnia’s politics to move beyond the ethnic framework established by the peace settlement.
Polling stations are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. local time, with preliminary results expected from the Central Election Commission after voting ends.
