2018 Bosnian general election

General elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 7 October 2018. Voters elected the national Presidency and House of Representatives, as well as the Presidents and legislatures of the two entities and the legislatures of the ten cantons of the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2018 Bosnian general election

7 October 2018

Bosniak member of the Presidency

Candidate Šefik Džaferović Denis Bećirović Party SDA SDP BiH Popular vote 212,581 194,688 Percentage 36.6% 33.5%

Croat member of the Presidency

Candidate Željko Komšić Dragan Čović Party DF HDZ BiH Popular vote 225,500 154,819 Percentage 52.6% 36.1%

Serb member of the Presidency

Candidate Milorad Dodik Mladen Ivanić Party SNSD Alliance for Victory Popular vote 368,210 292,065 Percentage 53.9% 42.7%

Results of the presidential elections (from left to right: Bosniak, Croat, Serb.) Darker shade indicates a larger share of the vote for the indicated candidate.

President before election Bakir Izetbegović (Bosniak) Dragan Čović (Croat) Mladen Ivanić (Serb) Elected President Šefik Džaferović (Bosniak) Željko Komšić (Croat) Milorad Dodik (Serb)

Electoral system

The three members of the Presidency are elected by plurality. In Republika Srpska voters elect the Serb representative, whilst in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina voters elect the Bosniak and Croat members.[1]

The 42 members of the House of Representatives are elected by open list proportional representation in two constituencies, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.[2]

Franchise

A total of 3,352,933 citizens are registered to vote: 2,092,336 in the FBiH and 1,260,597 in the RS (citizens living in Brcko District vote in one of the entities). There are 77,814 persons registered to vote outside of BiH, out of which 76,729 persons are registered to vote by mail and 1,085 are registered to vote at diplomatic missions.

Turnout

Turnout at the level of BiH was 53.36%; FBiH 51.25%; RS 57.30% and BD 46.81%. The percentage was slightly lower as compared to 2014 that was 54.14%.

The BiH Central Election Commission (CEC) reported that all 5714 polling stations closed down in time or with slight delay. According to the initial assessment by the BiH CEC, the elections passed in an overall calm and peaceful atmosphere.

Results

Presidency of BiH

The elected members of the BiH Presidency are Šefik Džaferović (Bosniak, SDA), Željko Komšić (Croat, DF) and Milorad Dodik (Serb, SNSD). There was controversy over the election of the Croat member, as the non-nationalist candidate Željko Komšić (Democratic Front) won against the nationalist Dragan Čović (HDZ BiH) with the help of Bosniak voters, with Komšić winning first place almost exclusively in municipalities without a Croat relative majority. The result prompted protests of Croats accusing Bosniaks of out-voting and calling for the creation of their own entity or electoral constituency. In the following days, protests were held in Mostar with signs such as "Not my president" and "RIP Democracy",[3][4] In the days following election, several municipalities with Croat majority declared Komšić persona non grata.[5][6]

First place Croat candidate per municipality

Croat population per municipality

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
Bosniak member
	Šefik Džaferović	Party of Democratic Action	212,581	36.61
	Denis Bećirović	Social Democratic Party	194,688	33.53
	Fahrudin Radončić	Union for a Better Future of BiH	75,210	12.95
	Mirsad Hadžikadić	Platform for Progress	58,555	10.09
	Senad Šepić	Independent Bloc	29,922	5.15
	Amer Jerlagić	Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina	9,655	1.66
Croat member
	Željko Komšić	Democratic Front	225,500	52.64
	Dragan Čović	Croatian Democratic Union	154,819	36.14
	Diana Zelenika	Croatian Democratic Union 1990	25,890	6.04
	Boriša Falatar	Our Party	16,036	3.74
	Jerko Ivanković-Lijanović	People's Party for Work and Betterment	6,099	1.42
Serb member
	Milorad Dodik	Alliance of Independent Social Democrats	368,210	53.88
	Mladen Ivanić	Alliance for Victory (SDS–PDP–NDP–SRS RS–SRS–NS–SNS)	292,065	42.74
	Mirjana Popović	Serb Progressive Party of Republika Srpska	12,731	1.86
	Gojko Kličković	First Serb Democratic Party	10,355	1.52
Invalid/blank votes			120,259	–
Total			1,812,575	100
Registered voters/turnout			3,355,429	54.02
Source: CEC

House of Representatives of BiH

Results of the BiH House of Representatives election.

Party	Federation			Republika Srpska			Total
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Party of Democratic Action	252,081	25.48	8	29,673	4.45	1	281,754	17.01	9	–1
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats	4,663	0.47	0	260,930	39.10	6	265,593	16.03	6	0
SDS–NDP–NS–SRS	–	–	–	162,414	24.34	3	162,414	9.80	3	–2
Social Democratic Party	140,781	14.23	5	9,672	1.45	0	150,453	9.08	5	+2
HDZ–HSS–HSP-HNS–HKDU–HSP-AS BiH–HDU BiH	145,487	14.71	5	4,385	0.66	0	149,872	9.05	5	+1
Democratic Front–Civic Alliance	96,180	9.72	3	–	–	–	96,180	5.81	3	–2
Party of Democratic Progress	–	–	–	83,832	12.56	2	83,832	5.06	2	+1
Democratic People's Alliance	652	0.07	0	68,637	10.29	1	69,289	4.18	1	0
Union for a Better Future of BiH	67,597	6.83	2	1,394	0.21	0	68,991	4.16	2	–2
Our Party	48,402	4.89	2	–	–	–	48,402	2.92	2	+2
Independent Bloc	41,511	4.20	1	–	–	–	41,511	2.51	1	New
Movement of Democratic Action	38,417	3.88	1	–	–	–	38,417	2.32	1	New
Socialist Party	–	–	–	31,321	4.69	1	31,321	1.89	1	+1
Party of Democratic Activity	29,763	3.01	1	756	0.11	0	30,519	1.84	1	0
HDZ 1990–HSP	28,962	2.93	0	–	–	–	28,962	1.75	0	0
People and Justice	23,353	2.36	0	–	–	–	23,353	1.41	0	New
Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina	17,830	1.80	0	–	–	–	17,830	1.08	0	0
Bosnian-Herzegovinian Patriotic Party	16,433	1.66	0	–	–	–	16,433	0.99	0	–1
Independent Bosnia-Herzegovina List	12,505	1.26	0	–	–	–	12,505	0.75	0	New
Labour Party	7,735	0.78	–	–	–	–	7,735	0.47	0	0
First Serb Democratic Party	–	–	–	7,513	1.13	0	7,513	0.45	0	New
Pensioners Party	7,185	0.73	–	–	–	–	7,185	0.43	0	New
Bosnian Party	5,771	0.58	–	–	–	–	5,771	0.35	0	0
Serb Progressive Party of Republika Srpska	–	–	–	4,750	0.71	0	4,750	0.29	0	0
Union for New Politics	728	0.07	–	1381	0.21	0	2,109	0.13	0	New
Croatian Party BiH	1,095	0.11	–	–	–	–	1,095	0.07	0	New
LDS za Boljitak	1,833	0.19	0	–	–	–	1,833	0.11	0	New
Lijevo Krilo	264	0.03	0	666	0.10	0	930	0.06	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	95,808	–	–	60,600	–	–	156,408	–	–	–
Total	1,085,036	100	28	727,924	100	14	1,812,960	100	42	0
Registered voters/turnout	2,093,784	51.82	–	1,261,645	57.70	–	3,352,429	54.03	–	–
Source: CEC

See also

• 2018 Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina general election
• 2018 Republika Srpska general election

Further reading

• Hulsey, John; Keil, Soeren (27 April 2020). "Change amidst continuity? Assessing the 2018 regional elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina". Regional & Federal Studies. doi:10.1080/13597566.2020.1754204.

References

1. Maja Sahadžic (2009) The Electoral System of Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Short Review of Political Matter and/or Technical Perplexion Contemporary Issues, Vol. 2, No. 1
2. Electoral System IPU
3. Editorial, Reuters. "Croats protest against election of moderate in Bosnia's presidency".
4. Mladen Lakic (3 May 2013). "Bosnian Croats Protest Against Komsic's Election Victory". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
5. "I Čitluk prekrižio Komšića".
6. Reuters (9 October 2018). "STUDENTI SVEUČILIŠTA U MOSTARU KOMŠIĆA PROGLASILI NEPOŽELJNIM 'Takve nas stvari ne zanimaju od nekoga tko se lažno predstavlja kao Hrvat' - Jutarnji List". Jutarnji.hr. Retrieved 14 October 2018.