Deep divisions along ethnic lines remain

The elections in Bosnia reinforced the divisions between the three ethnic groups at a time of deep political crisis, but judging by yesterday's preliminary results, BiH's foreign policy will be oriented towards the West, not Russia.

Based on 70 percent of the counted votes, nationalist parties from all three groups should dominate the national and regional parliaments, Reuters reports. However, the non-nationalist Bosniak and Croat candidates, Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić, will be in the three-member presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Željka Cvijanović, the representative of the Serbian people and until recently the president of Republika Srpska.

Change in the Presidency

Bećirović, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) backed by 11 opposition civic parties, won 57 percent of the vote over Bakir Izetbegović, whose nationalist Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) has been in power since the war. Izetbegović, who according to the election commission won 37,84 percent based on 86,38 percent of the votes, conceded defeat late on Sunday.

It is also the first time that a Bosniak member of the Presidency is not from an ethno-national party. However, although Izetbegović did not enter the Presidency, his party, according to preliminary results, is still the strongest Bosniak party individually, reports Deutsche Vele.

Komšić, leader of the Democratic Front (DF) party, secured his fourth presidential term by defeating his rival from the dominant Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) with 53,61 votes.

Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman expressed yesterday his dissatisfaction with the re-election of Komšić as the Croatian member of the BiH Presidency, saying that he cannot be a partner of Zagreb because he was elected by the votes of Bosniaks.

"We again express our dissatisfaction with the over-voting of Croats, which in the long term harms institutional stability and future relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Mr. Komšić was elected for the fourth time by the votes of the Bosniak people, and he is a Croatian member of the Presidency," Grlić Radman told reporters in Zagreb.

Cvijanović's election from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), which is managed by Milorad Dodik, was expected, and after the vote, she said that, as before, she would "work in the interest of the RS and stay in line with the current political concept".

"I do not agree that there will be no members of national options in the Presidency, because I do not believe that there is any structure in BiH that does not inherit what is not national in its program," said Cvijanović.

Reuters points out that the election of Bećirević and Komšić in the Presidency is considered important in a time of crisis in Europe, because that body, although mostly ceremonial and symbolic, decides on BiH's foreign policy and defense.

As the British agency points out, they will have a majority over Cvijanović, Dodik's ally, who prefers ties with Russia and China over those with the USA and the EU.

"BiH is Europe in miniature and I call on the EU to grant BiH candidate status as soon as possible. I also send a message to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to unite around the future, we don't have time to waste energy on useless arguments. I also send a message to the entire region - let's unite for the sake of the people and start cooperating. Any instability would take us back to the Middle Ages. I want to tell the people in Montenegro that they have friends for their whole life in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I also address the people of Serbia that it is time to build a better future. I am telling Croatia that we are two countries leaning on each other and that it is time to develop economic cooperation and stop fighting," said Bećirović.

Dodik in RS again?

In Republika Srpska, Dodik's SNSD and Jelena Trivić's Patrija of Democratic Progress (PDP-SDS) both declared victory in the race for president and president of the Republika Srpska entity, respectively.

Dodik said that he was proud to have been a candidate in the elections and to have been elected president. He pointed out that Republika Srpska has shown democratic maturity and that it is "a great achievement of our people". He added that Republika Srpska will be stable and lead its own policy, and continue cooperation with partners such as Serbia, Russia and Hungary.

In her speech on Sunday evening, Trivić also declared victory. "I will be the president of all citizens. There is room for everyone under this banner. We will deal with corruption and crime. This is just the beginning of the victories," said Trivić.

According to the incomplete results published by the Central Election Commission last night, Dodik was ahead of Trivić by over 28 votes. For representatives in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, SNSD won by far the largest number of votes.

International observers, as reported by Reuters, said the elections were largely peaceful, but warned that ethnic divisions and aggressive divisive rhetoric still prevailed.

"It is of crucial importance to bridge the gap between ethnic groups," Stefan Senach, head of the mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, told Reuters.

Commenting on the results for Deutsche Welle, political analyst from Sarajevo, Ivana Marić, said that "the elections will bring changes only if the coalition of HDZ, SDA, SNSD at the state level and SDA and HDZ at the entity level is broken." She said that it would be best if the government could be formed without the long-standing ruling coalitions of HDZ BiH, SDA and SNSD.

Intervention of the High Representative

Reuters points out that Bosnia remains a dysfunctional state almost three decades after the devastating wars, and on Sunday evening, shortly after the polls closed, the high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kristijan Šmit, again used the Bosnian powers and announced changes-amendments to the Election Law and the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The essence of the changes refers to the deadlines for the formation of authorities in the Federation of BiH.

Schmidt explained that he imposed this decision in order to improve the functionality of the institutions and enable the voice of citizens to be heard. He added that the changes will not affect the votes of citizens in the elections held on Sunday. “These are your choices. They do not refer to the held elections, but to post-election negotiations on party coalitions," said Schmidt.

Formally, the reason why Šmit made this decision is to prevent a repetition of the practice of Croatian politicians blocking the formation of a new government, and demanding changes to the Election Law, which is why the negotiations between the Bosniak and Croat parties have repeatedly failed. Croatian politicians threatened a blockade if Komšić was elected.

The amendments abolish blocking mechanisms and introduce deadlines for the appointment of deputies.

This decision also increased the number of delegates in the House of Peoples of the Federation. The constituent nations, Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, will have 23 instead of 18 delegates. Also, each constituent people will elect at least one representative in each canton for the House of Peoples.

Andreas Šider, head of the European Parliament's election monitoring mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, criticized the move, saying it was seen as "undermining Bosnia's democracy and institutions".

The EU delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina dissociated itself from the decision of Kristijan Šmit by saying that they "deeply regret" because the issue of electoral reform was not resolved in the dialogue between political parties.