Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are electing local authorities today. Voting in municipalities affected by this week's floods, which killed people, has been postponed.
This was reported by BTA.
In the eighth local elections since the declaration of independence of the former Yugoslav republic in 1992, 3.4 million people will have the opportunity to vote for mayors of cities and municipalities, municipal and city councilors in 111 municipalities, 31 cities and the district of Brčko in the north-eastern part of the country, which is a separate administrative unit.
The Central Electoral Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided yesterday to postpone the elections in the municipalities most affected by the floods and landslides that claimed 16 lives. The vote there will be held when there are conditions for it.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is known as one of the countries in the world with the most complex state structure.
Under the terms of the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the inter-ethnic war in Bosnia in 1992 – 1995, the country was divided into two semi-autonomous parts – Republika Srpska, populated mostly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two parts are connected through common state-level institutions, including the judiciary, army, security services and tax administration. The high representative of the international community monitors the implementation of the Dayton Agreement.
A ban on campaigning has been in effect since yesterday, which will end at the end of election day at 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. Bulgarian time).
Over 25,700 candidates are vying for seats in local parliaments, with 42.60 percent of them being women.
Out of a total of 368 candidates for mayors of cities and municipalities in Bosnia, only 29 are women, i.e. 7.5 per cent.
Mayors are directly elected except in Sarajevo, Mostar and Brčko district.
Local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be monitored by over 300 observers from eight countries, four international organizations, as well as the Office of the High Representative of the International Community and the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to analysts, the upcoming vote exceeds the importance of local elections and represents a kind of test for the rulers, as the voters will have the opportunity to give their assessment of their work so far.