MOSTAR, Bosnia and Herzegovina (AP) – Long-entrenched ethno-nationalists would win the first local elections in the southern city of Mostar in Bosnia in 12 years, but early results of Sunday’s vote also indicated that multi-ethnic parties and alliances would play a strong role for the future city council.
Mostar is divided between Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, who fought fiercely for control of the city during the 1992-95 war. Local elections have not been held since 2008, when Bosnia’s constitutional court declared its electoral rules discriminatory and ordered them to be changed. The two dominant political parties in the city were far from agreeing on how to do this.
According to the unofficial partial results released by Bosnia’s Central Election Commission, the dominant nationalist Bosnian and Croat parties – the SDA and the HDZ, respectively – won the most votes, followed by mostly multi-ethnic political parties and alliances. The unofficial results came from just one of the seven constituencies, but reports from nearly all political parties showed similar voting patterns.
Mostar is run by a de facto acting mayor, Ljubo Beslic of the HDZ, and his office, which also includes SDA representatives, but no city council was present to oversee their work or the allocation of nearly € 230 million raised the treasury of the city over the years. During that time, the city, famous for its picturesque Ottoman architecture, has seen its infrastructure crumble, garbage repeatedly piling up in the streets, and thousands of citizens leaving for a better life elsewhere.
The dispute was resolved in June, months after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of teacher Irma Baralija, who sued Bosnia for discrimination for not holding local elections in Mostar.
Baralia was on her way to a seat on the city council on the ticket of the small, multi-ethnic Our Party, which was an alliance with the Social Democratic Party expected to win at least six seats on the 35-member council.
Support from a vast majority of lawmakers in the city council, representing all ethnic communities, is required to elect the mayor, pass any resulting changes to the city charter and a number of other pivotal bills. Thus, the legislators of multi-ethnic parties seem to become tiebreakers in all disputes between the dominant Bosniaks and Croat nationalists, except in certain disputes.
About 100,000 people were entitled to vote, but only about 55% had voted.
“Our hope is that life (in Mostar) will improve … we want (Mostar) to be as it was before (the war),” Ramiz Coric said after casting his vote.
Before the war, ethnically mixed couples made up 10% of all marriages in Mostar, and the city was decidedly cosmopolitan. During the war, Croats moved to the west and Bosniaks to the east. Since the fighting ended, the city has two post offices, two electricity and water providers, two telephone networks, two public hospitals and more – a crumbling set for every ethnic group.
“It was about time. We waited too long,” said another voter, Mirsad Celebic, adding that he was afraid to predict who would win: “We’ll see.”