By DAN BILEFSKY
Published: October 4, 2010
Published: October 4, 2010
PRAGUE — The potential for achieving unity in Bosnia appeared in doubt on Monday after preliminary election results showed deep divisions in the ethnically divided country and election officials said they would investigate accusations of voting fraud.
Suad Arnautovic, an election commission member, said the commission would begin an inquiry after 10 percent of the ballots in the race for the Serb presidency, one element of the country’s three-member presidency, were voided.
The election was being closely watched as a test case of whether Bosnia can overcome deadlock and undertake changes needed to advance the country’s goals of becoming a member of the European Union and NATO.
Under a 1995 accord brokered by the United States, what was once a single entity, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was split into a Muslim-Croat Federation and a Serbian Republic. But the decentralized institutional structure that emerged, coupled with strong residual nationalism among the country’s disparate ethnic groups, has made it extremely difficult for Bosnia to move forward.
The preliminary election results underlined the risks, with Muslims and Croats favoring leaders advocating national unity and Bosnian Serbs choosing candidates who called for the country’s breakup.
Bakir Izetbegovic, the son of Bosnia’s wartime Muslim leader and a proponent of dialogue among the ethnic groups, appeared poised to win the race for the Muslim presidency, ousting the incumbent Haris Silajdzic, whose vociferous opposition to the Serbian Republic has contributed to national deadlock.
The current Croat member of the presidency, Zeljko Komsic, a moderate who comes from a multiethnic party, also won another four-year term.
However, analysts said that Bosnia’s already fragile cohesion remained under serious threat because of the strong showing of Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb leader, who was elected president of the Serbian Republic and has repeatedly threatened secession. The leading contender to be the Serb representative on the country’s presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, also wants Bosnian Serbs to seek independence.
Srecko Latal, a Balkan analyst with the International Crisis Group in Sarajevo, said that the moderate inclination of Bosnian Muslims would either isolate Mr. Dodik or magnify his intransigence. If Bosnia’s Muslims “extend a hand to Dodik and he rejects them, then that will pull him out into the open,” he said. He added, “Dodik will have no excuse for his attempts to rip the country apart.”
Suad Arnautovic, an election commission member, said the commission would begin an inquiry after 10 percent of the ballots in the race for the Serb presidency, one element of the country’s three-member presidency, were voided.
The election was being closely watched as a test case of whether Bosnia can overcome deadlock and undertake changes needed to advance the country’s goals of becoming a member of the European Union and NATO.
Under a 1995 accord brokered by the United States, what was once a single entity, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was split into a Muslim-Croat Federation and a Serbian Republic. But the decentralized institutional structure that emerged, coupled with strong residual nationalism among the country’s disparate ethnic groups, has made it extremely difficult for Bosnia to move forward.
The preliminary election results underlined the risks, with Muslims and Croats favoring leaders advocating national unity and Bosnian Serbs choosing candidates who called for the country’s breakup.
Bakir Izetbegovic, the son of Bosnia’s wartime Muslim leader and a proponent of dialogue among the ethnic groups, appeared poised to win the race for the Muslim presidency, ousting the incumbent Haris Silajdzic, whose vociferous opposition to the Serbian Republic has contributed to national deadlock.
The current Croat member of the presidency, Zeljko Komsic, a moderate who comes from a multiethnic party, also won another four-year term.
However, analysts said that Bosnia’s already fragile cohesion remained under serious threat because of the strong showing of Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb leader, who was elected president of the Serbian Republic and has repeatedly threatened secession. The leading contender to be the Serb representative on the country’s presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, also wants Bosnian Serbs to seek independence.
Srecko Latal, a Balkan analyst with the International Crisis Group in Sarajevo, said that the moderate inclination of Bosnian Muslims would either isolate Mr. Dodik or magnify his intransigence. If Bosnia’s Muslims “extend a hand to Dodik and he rejects them, then that will pull him out into the open,” he said. He added, “Dodik will have no excuse for his attempts to rip the country apart.”
ny times
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