More than 3.4 million voters were eligible to choose the tripartite presidency and parliaments at state, entity and cantonal levels.
More than 3.4 million registered voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina went to the polls on October 4 in general elections held under a new system of biometric voter identification and ballot scanners.
Voters elected the country’s distinctive three-member tripartite presidency — one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb — alongside the state-level House of Representatives, the parliaments of the two semi-autonomous entities, the president of Republika Srpska and ten cantonal assemblies in the Federation. In total, 518 officials were to be chosen from among 7,028 certified candidates, according to the Central Election Commission.
The Central Voters’ Register listed 3,408,517 voters, including more than 48,000 registered abroad. An election silence period ran from 7 a.m. on October 3 until polls closed at 7 p.m. on October 4.
<h2>New technology, familiar divisions</h2> This year’s vote introduced biometric devices to verify voter identity and scanners to process ballot papers — though voting itself remained paper-based, with the technology intended to make verification and counting faster and more transparent.
The election unfolded against deep political divisions among Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, with secessionist rhetoric from leadership in Republika Srpska and stalled EU reforms — Bosnia has held EU candidate status since 2022 — shaping the campaign. Analysts expected no immediate dramatic shift, with government formation likely to require lengthy coalition negotiations under the country’s complex power-sharing system.
<h2>Early partial results</h2> With most ballots counted late on October 4, early partial results pointed to Denis Bećirović of the SDP BiH leading the Bosniak presidency race with about 38 percent, ahead of Bakir Izetbegović of the SDA on roughly 34 percent. In the Croat contest, Darijana Filipović of HDZ BiH led with around 46.5 percent against Slaven Kovačević of DF on about 30.5 percent, while Željka Cvijanović of SNSD appeared headed for a decisive win in the Serb race with some 55 percent.
In the 42-seat state House of Representatives, the SDA led with 9 seats, followed by SNSD with 6, SDP BiH with 5 and HDZ BiH with 4, in results that remained subject to final confirmation by the election commission.
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