SARAJEVO, Sept 16 (Hina) - Three weeks before Bosnia's Oct. 5 general election, the leading moderate political parties continue to record a mild increase in popularity and a stable position, while three leading national parties are
losing influence, even though not drastically, the head of the National Democratic Institute's (NDI) office for Bosnia, Michael Balagus, said on Monday.
SARAJEVO, Sept 16 (Hina) - Three weeks before Bosnia's Oct. 5
general election, the leading moderate political parties continue
to record a mild increase in popularity and a stable position, while
three leading national parties are losing influence, even though
not drastically, the head of the National Democratic Institute's
(NDI) office for Bosnia, Michael Balagus, said on Monday. #L#
According to a research the American Institute conducted over the
past six days, the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) Dragan Covic
and the Serb Democratic Party's (SDS) Mirko Sarovic convincingly
lead as candidates for the Croat and Serb seats in the collective
state presidency.
Haris Silajdzic has increased by two percent his advantage over
Alija Behmen of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as the Muslim
candidate for the state presidency.
The public opinion poll shows that moderate parties continue to
enjoy the support of the majority of the electorate with respect to
votes for the state parliament and the parliament of the Bosnian
Federation. In the other entity, Republika Srpska, the SDS
dominates.
The SDP is the strongest political party on the state level, with a
15-percent support, as against the SDS's 14 percent.
The Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Party of Democratic Action
each enjoy the support of 11 percent of the constituents, while the
populist Bosnian Party (BOSS) is favoured by five percent.
At this moment non-national parties, together with the BOSS, enjoy
52 percent of the vote on the national level, or 47 percent without
it.
The same balance of forces is evident in the race for the House of
Representatives in the Bosnian Federation parliament, while in the
Serb entity, Milorad Dodik's leading opposition party, the Party of
Independent Social Democrats, is increasing its influence,
currently enjoying the support of 24 percent of the electorate, as
against the 38 percent enjoyed by the SDS.
The NDI will continue examining public opinion every week before
the ballot.
(hina) ha sb