According to the preliminary results of the local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest national political parties in the country have managed to maintain control over most municipalities and cities, although some have failed to achieve important electoral goals. Major national parties did not gain much support in big cities such as Banja Luka, Tuzla or Zenica in the elections, but their grip over smaller towns remains as strong as before.
The three parties forming the Bosniak-civic bloc in the coalition currently in power in Bosnia and Herzegovina dominate in Sarajevo and have managed to maintain some key strongholds, such as Tuzla, where the mayor will continue to be from the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP BiH).
This party has also retained the mayoral position in the Stari Grad municipality of Sarajevo and gained a mayor in Novo Sarajevo, while the Our Party (Naša Stranka) will have the mayor in the Centar municipality in the new mandate.
The Party of Justice and Peace (NiP), led by Elmedin Konaković, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has also preserved its existing mayoral positions and won some new ones, recording a significant increase in popularity.
The president of the Bosniak SDA, Bakir Izetbegović, stated that his party had gained eight new mayoral positions compared to the elections four years ago and claimed that, although it does not hold any mayoral positions in the municipalities that make up the City of Sarajevo, it has recorded a “strong increase” in the number of councillors in municipal councils.
The relative winner in the Republika Srpska is the SNSD led by Milorad Dodik. According to the party’s election headquarters president, Radovan Kovačević, the party’s candidates for mayors have won in 70 percent of municipalities and cities in Republika Srpska, totalling 45.
However, the party did not succeed in its most important goal, which was to win the mayoral race in Banja Luka.
Draško Stanivuković, a member of the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) and the current mayor of Banja Luka, announced that he has secured another mandate with a convincing margin of about 10,000 votes, defeating Nikola Šobota, who was personally supported by Milorad Dodik. Dodik had also invited the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó, and the Prime Minister of Serbia, Miloš Vučević, to a final campaign rally in Banja Luka in an effort to promote Šobota.
The president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Dragan Čović, stated that the party has achieved its electoral objectives. Čović expects HDZ BiH to secure a majority in the Mostar City Council, thereby significantly influencing the election of the mayor, who is indirectly elected by the city councillors.
However, he confirmed that his party is on the verge of losing the mayoral position in Žepče, with the current power balance suggesting that a candidate from the Bosniak Democratic Action Party (SDA) will likely succeed. He attributed this to the establishment of an opposition Croatian bloc named the Croatian Democratic Union (HDS), whose candidate “drew” approximately two thousand votes, which, according to Čović’s interpretation, helped elect a Bosniak mayor.
“The party that split from HDZ BiH has taken on historical responsibility,” concluded Čović.
In the local elections, over 3.4 million residents had the right to vote, and according to data collected by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SIP) after the polling stations closed, slightly less than 48 per cent of registered voters cast their ballots.
The elections were held during the devastating floods that affected the areas of Jablanica and Konjic.
According to the joint observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and the European Parliament, local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina were competitive and efficiently prepared with fundamental freedoms respected, following extensive changes to election legislation imposed by the High Representative to increase the integrity of the election process, despite insufficient efforts to promote public engagement.