Bosnia votes Sunday in election that could affect EU bid

Bosnians ‌are voting ​on Sunday in elections that could affect their country's European Union membership bid and the influence that the United States and Russia seek over the small Balkan nation. Voters are casting ballots for the country's central tripartite presidency and national parliament, alongside regional legislative races in its two federal entities.

Some polling stations had to ‌be temporarily closed due to problems with the electronic voting system, Bosnia's Central Election Commission head Jovan Kalaba told reporters in Sarajevo. The commission redesigned ballots and introduced new biometric voter identification and electronic scanners, which it said were aimed at curbing voting fraud. In a statement later in the day, the commission said that voter turnout was 28.8% by 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), or 8.12 percentage points less than at the same time during elections in 2022.

Voter frustration has ‌grown over an economic slowdown, the slow pace of EU entry talks and a lingering political crisis in which ethnically based dominant parties from the two entities have repeatedly stalled decisions by the weak central ‌government that links them. Bosnia, which has struggled to recover from the bloody 1992-95 war, secured EU candidate status in December 2022 and approval to open accession negotiations in 2024. Actual talks have not started because domestic political leaders have yet to enact core requirements such as bolstering judicial oversight and passing anti-corruption laws.

Louis Crishock, an American diplomat and the acting High Representative for Bosnia who, under the provisions of the Dayton accord, enforces the laws in Bosnia, urged people to go and vote. "Your vote is your chance to shape the next four ⁠years. Cast freely and ​with confidence that your vote will be counted as cast," ⁠Crishock wrote on X after visiting some polling stations earlier in the day.

The election commission is expected to release preliminary after polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday. MOVING BEYOND DIVISIVE RHETORIC

The Bosnian war ended in 1995 with the US-brokered Dayton peace accord, which ⁠left the country split along ethnic lines into the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation — linked by the central government and tripartite presidency. Many voters in the country of 3.4 million people say they want to move beyond the divisive rhetoric, but ​the politics appears stuck.

The vote pits rival ethnic parties — the Bosniak SDA, Serb SNSD and Croat HDZ BiH — against multi-ethnic opposition coalitions led by the Social Democratic Party. According to tracking platform Poliwave, the SDA ⁠holds a narrow national lead with 21.4%, followed by the SDP on 16.7%. In Republika Srpska, SNSD, the party run by secessionist leader Milorad Dodik, who wants close ties with Serbia and Russia and is at odds with the government in Sarajevo, is ahead with 34.2%.

"We are ... ⁠choosing ​those who can manage certain processes, build society, and make the Republika Srpska peaceful and stable," said Zeljka Cvijanovic, the SNSD candidate who is seeking a second term in the tripartite presidency. If ethnically based parties prevail and continue their disputes within the central government, the body that would eventually officially join the EU, progress on accession is likely to stall further.

In the capital, Sarajevo, Ismar Garasljevic, a 51-year-old high school teacher, said: "More than 30 ⁠years after the war, the situation is still the same; we are talking about nationalism ... The same faces, the same story, constantly." Major powers have long sought influence over Bosnia. The EU is seeking to expand ⁠its membership across the Balkans, including Bosnia, but Russia is ⁠slowing it down, maintaining its support of the Republika Srpska.

The US has also sought influence and wants to push for a $1.5 billion pipeline project to import US liquefied natural gas, run by a company with links to the Trump administration, but the EU warned that the company selection lacked competitive transparency. Washington has also clashed ‌with Brussels over the role of ‌the international High Representative. (Writing by Aleksandar Vasovic; reporting by Branko Filipovic in Sarajevo and Fedja Grulovic in Banja Luka; ​Editing by Alison Williams, David Goodman and Emelia Sthole-Matarise)