Citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina went to the polls on Sunday 7 October for elections to multiple levels of government. After several weeks, the results are confirmed, as is the good news for ALDE Party member party Nasa Stranka which has become the second largest party in Sarajevo and has increased its elected representation across the country.

At state-level, the party achieved 4.89% of the vote in the Federation constituency to gain two seats in the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina where it will be represented by the party leader Predrag Kojovic and Mirjana Marinković-Lepić.

At the entity-level, the party gained six seats in the House of Representatives of the Federation, an increase from two seats in the last mandate. The party’s Vice Presidents Sabina Ćudić and Nasiha Pozder were elected to the Federation Parliament and will be joined by Amela Kuskunovic, Želimir Bukarić, Sanela Klarić, and Mirsad Camdzic.

At the cantonal-level, the party increased in elected representatives. It won 13.02% of the vote in Sarajevo and with five assembly seats in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, up two from the last mandate, the party now has the opportunity to form the regional government in the Sarajevo Canton for the first time, as a senior coalition partner. The party also won assembly seats in four additional cantons in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More than half of the party’s elected representatives are female, reflecting the importance the party places on achieving gender balance in politics.

This was also the first time the party fielded a candidate for President of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Borisa Falatar received 3.74% of the vote, despite leading a pro-European campaign in which he also travelled to Brussels and met with members of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament.

Across the country, however, the Croat, Muslim and Serb nationalist parties emerged the most successful in the parliamentary election and the legislature is poised to be split down ethnic lines possibly hampering the reform process required for progress towards EU and NATO membership.

Speaking on Monday [8 October] as the preliminary results were being announced, party leader Predrag Kojovic said: “Borisa Falatar was the best candidate and this is the future of BiH. His time will come and in the next period we will achieve the goals that we were unable to achieve this time.”

“The reports we receive from the observers say that Nasa Stranka is the fastest growing party in BiH, this trend continues on I am proud of the type of campaign we have led and the way we behave.”

“I guarantee that all our representatives will be most active in all bodies, we will not betray the trust the voters have placed in us. We will fight for the next four years, and in four years’ time we will win,” he added.

Mr Falatar added: “we offered a vision of a strong, proud and prominent country that lives in peace with itself and neighbours and bravely steps forward. We led a campaign that this country has not seen, a trust-based campaign that bravely builds bridges and breaks the roads that are based in a conversation, positive politics is the only way for this country to move forward, a policy that is neither against anyone but for all of us, we have offered it. With our approach we have opened the way and gave inspiration to those who will join and strengthen our idea.”

More info: “It's Complicated: Bosnia's Byzantine System of Government” (visual guide from Radio Free Europe).

Full results available at www.izbori.ba

This article was updated on 24 October.