Bosnia and Herzegovina after Local Elections

Local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BETAPHOTO/HINA/FENA/EMIR BURILOVIC)

Leading Parties Suffer Defeat

The preliminary results of the Nov. 15 local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina have confirmed that the voters want change. The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (the ruling party in Republika Srpska) and the Party of Democratic Action (the ruling party in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) have lost their biggest footholds – Banjaluka and Sarajevo. Paradoxically, these two parties have won the most votes in total, but have been defeated in their former bastions. The exception are places with a majority Croat population, where the Croatian Democratic Union’s victory has shown that the party remains unchallenged.