Bosnia's Big Parties See Ratings Dip Ahead of Election

Just ahead of local elections due in Bosnia this Sunday, a poll shows that the country's main Bosniak [Muslim] party, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, has retained its dominance in the country's largest entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The same poll, published by Bosnia's Centre for Election Studies, CIS, also shows that the ruling Alliance of Social Democrats, SNSD, remains the favourite party in Bosnia's other entity, Republika Srpska, RS. 

However both parties saw slight drops in their popularity since the CIS conducted a similar poll in May.

Some 11 per cent of respondents in the Federation made the SDA their first choice when asked who they would vote for, down on 13 per cent in May.

In the RS, Milorad Dodik's SNSD was the preferred party for 18 per cent of respondents, down on 20 per cent in the May poll. 

The survey, conducted for CIS by Ipsos Sarajevo, surveyed 1,043 people between September 11 and 22.

In Sunday's local elections, voters will elect municipal councils across the two entities, ten city councils - four in the Federation and six in the RS - and an assembly in Brcko District.

Dodik's decision to go ahead with a controversial referendum in the RS last Sunday on the entity's national day - which Bosnia's constituitonal court had banned - has overshadowed the local elections and will likely affect the results, experts say.

However, since the CIS polling ended on September 22, it is not clear what effect the most recent developments - such as state prosecution summoning Dodik to a hearing - will have. 

The elections also look set to be decided by large numbers of people who have not yet decided how to vote, or did not tell the pollster.

In the Federation, 45 per cent...

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