Polling stations opened across Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday as roughly 3.4 million registered voters cast ballots for the country’s tripartite presidency, the national parliament, and the leaders of its two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dominated by Bosniaks and Croats, and the Serb-majority Republika Srpska.
The intricate institutional framework, created by the 1995 Dayton peace agreement brokered by the United States, was designed to balance the interests of the country’s three main ethnic groups: Bosniak Muslims, Orthodox Serbs, and Catholic Croats. Yet many citizens remain frustrated with a political system that often seems more focused on ethnic power-sharing than on delivering tangible improvements to daily life.
Early reports indicated delays at several polling places due to problems with newly introduced digital voting technology, which authorities had adopted to address previous concerns about vote tampering. Polls were scheduled to close at 7 p.m. local time.
New security measures, old divisions
For the first time, electronic voter identification and ballot scanning are being used to curb irregularities and organised manipulation that have undermined confidence in past elections. The move is part of a broader effort to restore trust in a process that many Bosnians view with scepticism.
Most of the 75 parties contesting the election are organised along ethnic lines. The Bosniak nationalist Party of Democratic Action (SDA) has campaigned on keeping Bosnia united against Serb separatism, while many Bosnian Croats support ethnic parties such as the local branch of Croatia’s ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Bakir Izetbegović, who lost the 2022 presidential race to Denis Bećirović, is seeking a third term as leader of the SDA, the largest Bosniak party in the country.
Disillusionment is widespread. Many voters say politicians use nationalism to avoid addressing real problems such as low living standards and the exodus of young people. Ivan Šilić, a voter in Mostar, told reporters that nothing has improved since he first voted. “Politicians live well while everyone else’s situation stays the same,” he said.
Dodik’s shadow looms large
Although Milorad Dodik is not on the ballot, the campaign has been dominated by the pro-Russian, separatist former president of Republika Srpska. Dodik is banned from public office after being convicted of defying the international envoy who oversees the Dayton peace agreement. Yet he remains a powerful figure, having recently met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
His party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), is expected to perform well in Republika Srpska. At a final rally in Banja Luka on Friday, attended by Russia’s ambassador Igor Khalabukov, Dodik declared that Bosnia is “dead” and “an impossible country,” adding, “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Analyst Dragan Bursac notes that Dodik, off the ballot for the first time in nearly three decades, is still in command and remains omnipresent in the country’s media. “The ban is not working,” Bursac said. “Dodik is exploiting it.”
Ethnic tensions and external influences
Bosnia has remained peaceful in recent years, but its politicians have kept ethnic divisions alive. Bosnian Serb leaders such as Dodik have pushed for their entity to break away, raising Western fears of renewed instability. The country remains one of Europe’s poorest, still recovering from a war that began after it declared independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia in 1992. That conflict killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions.
Bosnia is formally seeking European Union membership, but progress has stalled despite EU efforts to push its leaders toward reform. Russia is actively working to undermine EU expansion in the Balkans, including in Bosnia, while continuing to back Republika Srpska. Meanwhile, the United States is seeking influence through a $1.5 billion pipeline project to import American liquefied natural gas, promoted by a corporation with ties to the Trump administration.
Recent events have also reopened wartime wounds. Public tributes in Serbia and among Bosnian Serbs to Ratko Mladić, the wartime army commander who died in late August while serving a life sentence for genocide and other war crimes, have sparked outrage. Bosnian Serbs regard Mladić as a hero, despite his conviction by a UN court for the killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.
As the votes are counted, the outcome will shape Bosnia’s trajectory for years to come. The country’s European path remains uncertain, and the influence of external actors—both Russian and American—continues to weigh heavily on its politics. For many Bosnians, the hope is that this election will bring not just a change of faces, but a genuine change in direction.
