Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina held its ninth general elections on 2 October 2022.

Türkiye is ready to give support for overcoming the problems regarding the upcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 6.

But there is a considerable price to pay for these small steps towards basic functioning in the entity-level government. The larger thrust of Schmidt's proposal amounts to a sort of election gerrymandering by the Office of the High Representative, OHR.

Member of the presidency of Bosnia and Hercegovina Milorad Dodik talks at the press conference. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC.

An agreement on partnership, trade and cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UK was accepted by the Bosnian Presidency but without a consensus of all three members.

He also said that Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, spreads ethnic hatred, but also that "there are many worse than him".

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic (L), Slovenian President Borut Pahor (C), Member of the Bosnian Presidency, Milorad Dodik (R). Photo: EPA-EFE/IGOR KUPLJENIK

"We won't solve this problem without the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Milanovic said.

Bosnian Presidency member Milorad Dodik (R) shakes hand with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Linhart (L) as he arrives for a meeting at the Bosnian Presidency, 15 October 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and Bosnian presidency members Sefik Dzeferovic, Zeljko Komsic and Milorad Dodik in Belgrade, October 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC.

The NGOs' joint letter also criticised the inaction of the international community and recalled the consequences of the 1990s war in Bosnia.

The RS is almost wholly economically dependent on Sarajevo, and on increasingly frequent financial transfusions from Belgrade.

According to Dodik, this could include pulling Bosnian Serb soldiers out of Bosnia's joint armed forces and re-establishing Republika Srpska's own military, as well as withdrawing from the country's indirect taxation system.