SDA, SDS Win Most Mayoral Seats In Bosnia’s Elections
By Elvira M. Jukic
The preliminary results in Bosnia’s local elections show that the majority of mayoral seats went to the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, followed by the Serb Democratic Party, SDS.
According to the preliminary results concerning mayoral seats in 125 municipalities, published by the Bosnian Central Electoral Commission, CIK, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, won the largest number of seats, 34, mainly in the Federation entity.
The SDA was closely followed by the Serb Democratic Party, SDS, which now has 27 municipal mayors, a jump from the previous 13.
In Republika Srpska, the SDS got more votes than the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats which from 41 mayors it had for the past four years, dropped to 15 on Sunday.
The Social Democrats, led by Zlatko Lagumdzija, said they have won three more mayoral seats than they had before, so now they have 11 mayors but they lost two big municipalities, Bihac and Novi Grad Sarajevo – which is the largest municipality in Bosnia.
“Yes, we did loose some mayors in large municipalities, but we won some other and showed that we are the party for the whole country,” Lagumdzija said at the SDP’s press conference announcing the results on Sunday night.
The Croat Democratic Union, HDZBiH, won 14 seats, mostly in the Western Herzegovina, and its sister party the HDZ 1990 got three mayors.
The Alliance for a Better Future of Bosnia, SBBBiH, led by Fahrudin Radoncic, won two mayors, both of them were already mayors in their municipalities who had left the SDA and joined the SBB during their mandates.
“We are now the third party in the Federation and we have a reason to celebrate,” Radoncic said at the press conference on Sunday night.
The Central Electoral Commission, CIK, did not read out the results at the midnight press conference on Sunday but said that the exit polls cited by the political parties are accurate and that more details could be found on their website.
Not all municipalities have finished counting their ballots. There are over three million registered voters in Bosnia and the turnout was around 56 per cent, one per cent up on the last local elections.
Around 54 per cent of voters went to the polls in the Federation entity while in Republika Srpska the turnout was slightly higher at 59 per cent.
