1 October 2006 2010 → 2001 1996 10 6 | 1996 2001 3 10 3 10 | |
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General elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 October 2006. They decided the makeup of Bosnia and Herzegovina's presidency as well as federal, entity, and cantonal governments. As of September 2006 there were 2,736,886 registered voters. Of the 2.7 million voters, 1.7 millions are in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 1 million in Republika Srpska. Official voter turnout as reported by the Central Election Commission was 52.74% of the total number of registered voters.
Contents
Background
Analysts claimed that the 2006 election would be the most important since Bosnia's independence from Yugoslavia, and the subsequent Bosnian War. With the previous government failing to agree reforms to the constitution, and Bosnian Muslim politicians continuing to threaten the abolition of the Republika Srpska and officials in Republika Srpska continuing to speak of possible secession from the country in response, the election was seen as crucial in determining the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results were tentatively welcomed by commentators, and described as bringing "small signs of change to a Bosnia where institutional fragmentation has cemented ethnic division", with the result suggesting "a certain retreat of nationalism among the Muslim and Croat communities".
Controversy
A controversy has emerged over the election of the Croatian member of presidency. Although Željko Komšić is an ethnic Croat, as a member of the SDP he was alleged by his political opponents to have received votes mainly from Bosniaks. He has been accused by his opponents that he was not the choice of Croats, but rather Bosniaks, citing that he did not win majority for Croatian representative in any of the counties/cantons with Croat majority. This is the result of the fact that in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, both Bosniak and Croat presidents are on one ballot, letting the voter choose to vote in either category regardless of their own ethnicity.
State Presidency
One President was elected from each of the country's three constitutional peoples: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.
House of Representatives
According to the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the representatives from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are allocated 28 seats, while the representatives from the Republika Srpska have 14 seats. There are 42 seats in total.
House of Peoples
The 15 members of the House of Peoples will be elected in entities' Parliaments - 10 members by the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (5 Bosniaks and 5 Croats); and 5 members by the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska.
Entity Parliaments
On the entity level, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska will elect new governments.
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In the Federation this includes:
House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Only parties which have won mandates are listed:
Reg. - Mandates from regional electoral units; Com. - Mandates from compensation lists
Source - Central Electoral Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Republika Srpska
In the Republika Srpska, the government is made up of:
National Assembly of the Republika Srpska
Seat allocation:
Canton Parliaments
All 289 mandates in the assemblies of the Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina were up for election; interestingly, the same parties elected into the Federal Parliament were elected onto cantonal assemblies (skupština kantona/скупштина кантона in Bosnian and Serbian, sabor županije in Croatian).
Source - Central Electoral Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina