SARAJEVO, Oct 3 (Hina) - On Saturday, Bosnia-Herzegovina's citizens will go to the polls, for the fourth time since the end of war in this country, to elect the collective presidency, the state parliament, parliaments at the entity
levels, assemblies in ten cantons of the Croat-Muslim Federation and the president of the Bosnian Serb entity.
SARAJEVO, Oct 3 (Hina) - On Saturday, Bosnia-Herzegovina's
citizens will go to the polls, for the fourth time since the end of
war in this country, to elect the collective presidency, the state
parliament, parliaments at the entity levels, assemblies in ten
cantons of the Croat-Muslim Federation and the president of the
Bosnian Serb entity. #L#
On October 5, over two million and 300 thousand registered voters
will have the opportunity to choose their representatives among
almost 7,000 candidates from 52 political parties and several minor
coalitions.
The Electoral Commission has announced that the first preliminary
unofficial results will probably be given on Sunday evening.
The outcome of this year's elections is considered to be the most
important since the signing of the Dayton peace accords, as for the
first time the candidates will be elected for the four-year-long
term of office in the country's and entities' legislative and
executive authorities.
According to the latest opinion polls, it is very likely the
elections will bring about the tacit cohabitation between parties
with the national pre-modifiers and those that regard themselves as
moderate, i.e. multiethnic parties.
Candidates of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ), Mirko Sarovic and Dragan Covic
respectively, stand the best chances to be elected as the Serb and
Croat member of the three-man Bosnian state presidency.
The third member who represents Bosniaks (Muslims) is likely to be
Haris Silajdzic, the leader of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina
(SBiH), seen as a moderate party.
An opinion poll which the American National Democratic Institute
(NDI) conducted five days prior to the vote shows that the Social
Democratic Party (SDP) led by Zlatko Lagumdzija is the strongest
party at the state level and in the Croat-Muslim Federation.
It is probable that SDP supported by Silajdzic's SBiH and some minor
parties has chances to retain the power in the Federation, but the
establishment of new authorities at the state level will be more
complicated, given that it requires the cooperation with parties
from the Serb entity, that are close to SDS, like the Party of the
Democratic Progress (PDP) of the incumbent premier in the Republic
of Srpska, Mladen Ivanic.
In the Republic of Srpska it is more and more evident that the
current coalition, formally led by Ivanic with SDS which exerts its
influence through its "non-party experts", will again be struck
up.
Regardless of the make-up of the new executive authorities in this
entity, the new authorities should be a great step forward from the
current state of affairs.
New entity governments will have to be really multiethnic because
of the constitutional changes which the current ruling Alliance for
Changes has managed to introduce, with the help of a former High
Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch.
In compliance with these changes, a half of the ministerial seats in
the Serb entity's government will be thus given to Croats and
Bosniaks (Muslims), and also Serbs and Croats will hold a half of
ministerial offices in the federal government.
Ahead of the coming elections, representatives and senior
officials of the international community have called on Bosnian
voters to go to the polls and to vote for the continuation of the
ongoing political and economic reforms.
The current High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, frequently asked
by reporters about "favourites" of the international community,
responded that there were no more or less favourite parties but the
international community insisted on reform programmes.
U.S. Ambassador to Sarajevo, Clifford Bond, on Thursday forwarded a
clearer message.
Most dailies published an interview Bond gave to the "Dnevni Avaz".
According to the media, the U.S. diplomat said nationalists would
not be allowed to again take over power in the country.
Nationalists in the governments in Bosnia-Herzegovina will not be
regarded as legitimate by European and international partners.
Simply they will not trust them, Bond was quoted by "Dnevni Avaz" as
saying.
The alliance between the SDP and SBiH is expected to be maintained,
partly thanks to the pressure of the international community, and
this will make it impossible for the three national parties to
restore their authorities.
(hina) ms sb