Bosnia Votes With Biometric Scanners as Presidency and EU Path Hang in Balance
First general election with biometric ID and ballot scanners; preliminary results due late Sunday
3 min read
File photo: Sarajevo cityscape at sunset. Photo: Milan Suvajac, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bosnians vote Sunday in general elections for the state presidency, national and entity assemblies and cantonal bodies, with new biometric ID checks and ballot scanners meant to speed counting and curb fraud, Al Jazeera reported.
Who is on the ballot
More than 3.4 million people are eligible to vote, Al Jazeera said. The tripartite presidency elects Bosniak and Croat members from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a Serb member from Republika Srpska. Bosniak candidates include Presidency member Denis Bećirović of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Bakir Izetbegović of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Semir Efendić of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Fahrudin Radončić of the Union for a Better Future, according to Al Jazeera.
Croat candidates include Darijana Filipović of HDZ BiH, Slaven Kovačević of the Democratic Front and Zdenko Lucić, backed by a five-party Croat coalition. Serb Presidency member Željka Cvijanović of SNSD seeks a second term against Marinko Božović of the SDS and Nebojša Vukanović of the List for Justice and Order, Al Jazeera reported. SNSD is led by Milorad Dodik, the former Republika Srpska president known for secessionist moves and close ties to Russia.
Seventy-five parties and four independents registered with the Central Election Commission (CIK), Al Jazeera reported.
New tech, old politics
Biometric devices will identify voters and scanners will process paper ballots, so voting remains paper-based while verification and counting should be faster and more transparent, Al Jazeera said. Preliminary results are traditionally released late on election night and updated for days; official results are due by Nov. 20.
Deutsche Welle reported that ethnic identity still outweighs daily economic worries in how many Bosnians vote, even as the country has lost roughly 600,000 people to emigration in a decade and young adults leave fastest. Analysts told DW that elites manufacture a sense of threat so elections become “a referendum on national survival,” while voters name high prices, low wages, housing, corruption and poor services as their real concerns.
EU path and foreign rivalry
The EU granted Bosnia candidate status in 2022 and opened accession talks in 2024, but progress has been assessed as very limited amid political blockades, Al Jazeera reported. DW cited an independent analysis of EU progress reports showing Bosnia’s readiness score falling sharply in a year, with no chief EU negotiator appointed and none of 113 required reforms implemented.
Sunday’s vote coincides with intense rivalry among the EU, the United States and Russia in the Western Balkans, DW reported. Whether new technology and the ballot can ease blockades — or deepen ethnic deadlock — will become clearer once CIK’s preliminary tallies emerge overnight.
