Cavic told reporters in Banja Luka on Sunday the SDS remained in power in 42 municipalities, but was particularly surprised by the defeat in Trebinje, whose constituents voted en masse for Milorad Dodik's Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD).
Dodik's party convincingly defeated the SDS in the mayoral race in Banja Luka, Bosnia's largest municipality, and leads in 20 more municipalities.
SNSD secretary general Igor Radojicic said this party had demonstrated that it was the strongest political party in Bosnia's Serb entity and the third strongest in the country. He added the party's results confirmed that extraordinary parliamentary elections should have been called in the entity.
Apart from the SNSD and the SDS, the most influential parties in the country are the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BH), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Although the final election results are unknown yet, SDA leader Sulejman Tihic told a press conference this party took over power in 18 municipalities, although not in Sarajevo's most important ones, which are controlled by the SDP.
Commenting on the results of the SNSD, Tihic said they were an expected and positive trend.
SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija highlighted the victory of the SDP candidate for the municipal head race in Bihac, and the voter support in the district of Brcko. The SDP expects to be in power in 12 municipalities.
The HDZ proclaimed itself the winner in 22 municipalities, nearly all in which Croats are the majority population, including Mostar where, like in the district of Brcko, the mayor is not elected directly but in the city council, requiring two-thirds of the vote.
The 45 percent voter turnout in the municipal elections disappointed all parties which ran in the race, but Tihic said this could mean conditions in the country were becoming stable and constituents felt less compelled to vote than in hot spots.
According to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which monitored the elections, the ballot was held in accordance with international standards.
Office head Peter Eicher said, however, the elections were still transitional ones because the supreme authority in the country was still in the hands of the international community.
He said that generally speaking, human rights were respected during the ballot, but added that the voting system was unnecessarily complicated, and that a significant number of political parties had been ethnically oriented during the election campaign.