Ethnic Parties Reassert Grip on Bosnia’s Mostar at Landmark Election

The first, partial results of Sunday's local elections still offer no clear indications as to who will be forming the new local government in Bosnia and Herzegovina's south-western city of Mostar, famous for its Old Bridge and infamous for its vicious fighting during the country's 1992-95 war, as well as for its post-war ethnic divisions.

All main political actors have already declared election victories and claimed the position of mayor for themselves. Yet experts stress that Mostar's complex electoral and governance system will require a few more days just to complete the counting of seats in the new city council.

The instalment of a new mayor and a new city government may take weeks or even months. Yet even the partial results showed that the elections have failed to bring about the major political shift that some voters and activists had expected.

Apart from solid results for two new local political actors, the ballot clearly confirmed the continued domination of the two ethnic parties that ruled Mostar during the war and afterwards - the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, and mostly Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, SDA.

"I thought that we would give a chance to younger, more literate people," an obviously disappointed 40-year-old voter called Zana told BIRN. "It turned out that nothing can be changed here."

Many Mostar residents appeared resigned and apathetic about possible changes even before the local elections. This sombre mood was mainly a result of the protracted political crisis that has held the city - and the rest of the country - hostage for years.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation worse, revealing the extent of the dysfunctionality and corruption of Bosnia's governance system...