Bosnian general election, 2006

Bosnia and Herzegovina general election, 2006

1 October 2006

First party Second party Third party   Leader Milorad Dodik Sulejman Tihić Haris Silajdžić Party SNSD SDA SBiH Leader since 1996 2001 1996 Last election 3 10 6 Seats before 3 10 6 Seats won 7 9 8 Seat change 4 1 2 Popular vote 269,648 238,475 219,487   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Zlatko Lagumdžija Dragan Čavić Dragan Čović Party SDP BiH SDS HDZ BiH Leader since 1997 2006 2005 Last election 5 5 5 Seats before 5 5 5 Seats won 5 3 3 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 143,272 108,616 69,333

Colours denote the party with the most votes by municipalities

Chairman before election Adnan Terzić SDA Elected Chairman Nikola Špirić SNSD

Logo of the 2006 general election

Bosnia and Herzegovina
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Constitution Dayton Agreement Peace Implementation Council High Representative: V. Inzko
Presidency Bosniak member Bakir Izetbegović (Chairman) Croat member Dragan Čović Serb member Mladen Ivanić
Parliament Executive Parliament House of Peoples House of Representatives Council of Ministers Chairman: Denis Zvizdić
Recent elections General: 2002 2006 2010 2014 Political parties
Foreign relations EU accession NATO accession
Political divisions Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina President (list): Marinko Čavara Prime Minister: Fadil Novalić House of Representatives Republika Srpska President (list): Milorad Dodik Government Prime Minister: Željka Cvijanović National Assembly Speaker: Nedeljko Čubrilović Brčko District International Supervisor: B. Berton (Suspended) Mayor: Anto Domić
Other countries Atlas

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.^[1] Official voter turnout as reported by the Central Election Commission was 52.74% of the total number of registered voters.^[2]

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".^[3]

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.

Results

State Presidency

One President was elected from each of the country's three constitutional peoples: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.^[4]

House of Representatives

Distribution of seats in the 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.

Results

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:

• Prime Minister of the Federation
• Federation House of Representatives
• Federation House of Peoples

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:

• Prime Minister of Republika Srpska
• President (Serb) and vice-presidents (Croat and Bosniak) of Republika Srpska
• National Assembly of the Republika Srpska

National Assembly of the Republika Srpska

• SNSD 44.95%
• SDS 18.99%
• PDP 7.13%
• DNS 4.22%
• SP 3.70%
• SRS 3.02%

Seat allocation:

• SNSD 41
• SDS 17
• PDP RS 8
• DNS 4
• SBiH 4
• SP 3
• SDA 3
• SRS RS 2
• SDP 1

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

See also

• Republika Srpska general election, 2006

References

External links

• Bosnian Electoral Commission official site
• Bosnia’s “Historic” Elections: The Usual Tensions, Plus a Seed of Hope, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 2006

Elections and referendums in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Presidential elections	1990 1996 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
Parliamentary elections	1910 1990 1996 1998 2000 2002 2006 2010 2014
Municipal elections	1990 1997 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Referendums	1992
See also: Elections and referendums in Republika Srpska Elections in Yugoslavia