SARAJEVO, Oct 6 (Hina) - An extremely low turnout and an electoral campaign aimed primarily at discrediting political opponents are the two main reasons for the revival of national parties in the October 5 general vote in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
SARAJEVO, Oct 6 (Hina) - An extremely low turnout and an electoral
campaign aimed primarily at discrediting political opponents are
the two main reasons for the revival of national parties in the
October 5 general vote in Bosnia-Herzegovina. #L#
Less than 55 percent of a total of 2,300,000 registered voters went
to the polls in yesterday's elections, which is the lowest turnout
in the past six years.
The electoral campaign, reduced to mudslinging, apparently turned
a large part of the electorate off the voting, and the new
authorities will hardly be able to say they enjoy the general
support of the society.
More complete election results were not available on Sunday
morning, however, according to available indicators a significant
number of voters have decided to vote for national parties - the
Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) and the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), which was established by
Radovan Karadzic.
These trends are in line with pre-election analyses which noted
that abstaining from voting would only help extremist forces, as
was the case in other European countries.
The SDA electoral headquarters declared victory around midnight
last night although by that time less than one fourth of votes in
only two cantons had been counted.
The SDS in Banja Luka stated after the counting of votes from 18
polling stations that the party had won 60 percent of the Serb vote,
while HDZ officials stated that 70-80 percent of the Croat
electorate had voted for the party.
Apart from the three national parties, officials of the Party for
Bosnia-Herzegovina also expressed satisfaction with their party's
results, which was understandable given the fact that this is the
third consecutive election at which the party increased the number
of won votes.
Much more important than that is the fact that the party now becomes
a crucial factor to determine the make-up of the future executive
authorities both at the state level and in the Croat-Muslim
entity.
The head of the SDA's election headquarters, Hasan Muratovic, was
quick to make an offer of new coalition partnership. Although he did
not directly mention the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, he was
obviously alluding to it when he spoke about the need for
partnership among "pro-Bosnian parties".
Zlatko Lagumdzija, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP),
which judging by available information has won much less votes than
expected, believes that there is still a chance for the Alliance for
Changes, which governed the country in the past two years, to
survive.
Lagumdzija considers as encouraging the fact that a bloc of five
smaller reformist parties, which are potential partners to the
Alliance, has grown stronger in the latest vote.
International officials more or less openly warned before the
elections that nationalists returning to power would be a setback
for the country.
Nationalists cannot be our legitimate partners, US Ambassador
Clifford Bond said two days before the election.
The message was addressed more to Haris Silajdzic, an informal
leader of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, than to the SDA, HDZ or
the SDS.
The SDA's Hasan Muratovic urged, however, the international
community to "respect the democratic will of the electorate",
adding that an attempt to remove the SDA from executive authority
would cause "unforeseeable consequences".
Haris Silajdzic was unwilling to comment on the first election
results, explaining that he would discuss possible coalitions once
the party's final results were known.
(hina) rml