The nationalists’ victory at the polls comes as no surprise, while the record-low turnout reflects a sense of resignation. From Respekt.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, people voted in general elections over the weekend. They turned out – with a few minor exceptions – just as they always do. Nationalist parties (each representing one of the country’s three constituent nations: Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks) consolidated their positions at all levels of the country’s political system. The exception is Social Democratic politician Denis Becirovic, who retained his seat as one of Bosnia’s three presidents, elected by Bosniak voters. The remaining two presidential posts are held by the reelected Zeljka Cvijanovic of the SNSD, Milorad Dodik’s Serbian nationalist party, and Darijana Filipovic of the HDZ, a party advocating for Croatian interests in Bosnia. For the first time in its postwar history, this Balkan country has two women in its collective presidential body – these members, along with Becirovic, will take turns leading the presidency every eight months.
Dodik, the pro-Russian, Serbian nationalist – who, incidentally, attended the recent funeral of war criminal Ratko Mladic in Belgrade – was barred from running in these elections; last year, he was convicted of failing to comply with a decision by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and was banned from holding political office for six years. Nevertheless, he continues to be regarded as the spiritual leader of both SNSD supporters and the nationalist faction within the Bosnian Serb political scene. Dodik also thanked Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin for their support of the party, which has retained power not only in the presidency but also in the Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska. The president of Republika Srpska will likely also be an SNSD representative, Savo Minic.
[Dodik and Minic, currently the Republika Srpska prime minister, met with Putin last week while on a working visit to Moscow – Transitions note.]
The complex Bosnian political system that emerged after the bloody war of the 1990s is intended to prevent new conflicts from breaking out in this Balkan country. Bosnia consists of two entities (Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), which enjoy extensive autonomy. Bosniaks, who are predominantly Muslim, together with Croats, form the majority in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while ethnic Serbs make up the majority in Republika Srpska.
In addition to central institutions such as the collective presidency or the bicameral parliament, the country also has other institutions at the entity level – Republika Srpska has a unicameral National Assembly, and the Federation, which is divided into 10 cantons with relatively autonomous governments, has a bicameral parliament. Each entity has its own president. Furthermore, all of these institutions must be composed equally of people from the three constituent nations – which largely excludes people who do not consider themselves representatives of any of the three groups. Ballots in Bosnia and Herzegovina thus resemble oversized sheets of paper.
And although the Social Democratic Party enjoys occasional success in the country, in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is the nationalist parties – which are unable to agree on anything – that make gains in general elections. The resulting deadlocks hold the country back, preventing the necessary reforms that would contribute to its development and potentially even to its accession to the European Union. And since this has been a familiar story for the past 20 years or so, it’s no wonder that fewer and fewer people are turning out to vote.
The most interesting aspect of the Bosnian elections remains voter turnout. Compared to the last general election in 2022, turnout fell by nearly 10 percentage points to about 42 percent. For comparison: in the Czech Republic in 2025, nearly 69 percent of voters turned out for the parliamentary elections, and in the second round of the presidential election in 2023, turnout was even over 70 percent – and yet, in terms of voter turnout within Europe, we are far from being among the leaders.
Such a low voter turnout in Bosnia indicates that, for a large portion of the population, elections change nothing and don’t really mean much. At the same time, however – just as everywhere else – lower voter interest benefits more radical parties with a devoted electorate. Nationalist movements, which have been in power in the country for many years, have strong ties in “their” cities and towns, and party affiliation – or at least the promise of support in elections – is thus often an unwritten condition for obtaining a job in the public sector.
The country, with a population of about 3.4 million, is weighed down by a bloated bureaucracy that serves a complex state apparatus. Bosnia and Herzegovina has one of the largest public sectors in the world – according to the World Bank, about 40 percent of the total workforce is employed there. Support for the country’s entrenched nationalist parties among a large portion of the population thus stems not only from political convictions but also from the need to secure a livelihood.
Magdalena Fajtova covers foreign affairs for the leading Czech weekly Respekt, where this newsletter post was originally published in Czech. Previously a reporter for Czech Radio, she spent a year studying in Sarajevo in 2018–2019 while contributing reporting from the Balkans. She received the Milena Jesenska Special Prize in 2022 from the Cesko-nemecky fond budoucnosti (Czech-German Fund for the Future). Translated by Jeremy Druker. Republished with permission.
