Insults Fly Ahead of Sunday's Vote in Bosnia

In a battle to win votes ahead of general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 12, Bosnia's sharp-elbowed parties are not choosing their words carefully.

Most prefer to talk about their rivals' multiple errors and grave crimes than talk about what they would do in power.

The Central Electoral Commission, CIK, sanctioned several parties for hate speech in the final days of the election campaign, adding that it had not had any more cases since October 9, however.

The CIK banned Slavko Vucurevic, standing for the Party of Democratic Progress, PDP, in the assembly of Bosnia's mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, acting on a complaint by the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD.

Vucurevic, the mayor of Trebinje, in speeches in Trebinje and the nearby town of Nevesinje, reportedly accused the SNSD of theft and insulted the SNSD's female candidate for the Bosnian presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic.

Vucurevic was not only excluded from the election but was fined 1,500 euro. His PDP party was fined 3,000 euro.

The PDP belongs to the opposition bloc in Republika Srpska, the Union for Changes, which is led by the largest Serbian opposition party, the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS.

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