Bosnia and Herzegovina's Central Election Commission on Sunday released the first preliminary results of the country's general election, showing Denis Becirovic, Zeljka Cvijanovic and Darijana Filipovic leading the race for the three seats of the country's multi-ethnic presidency.
Becirovic, representing the Social Democratic Party (SDP-BiH), led the contest for the Bosniak seat. Cvijanovic of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) led the race for the Serb seat. The Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ-BiH) Filipovic led the field for the Croat seat.
Counting still under way
According to the first preliminary results published by the commission, about 80 percent of ballots had been processed when the early snapshot was released. Becirovic had 164,369 votes, ahead of Bakir Izetbegovic with 148,036, Semir Efendic with 110,530 and Fahrudin Radoncic with 9,320. Filipovic had 92,000 votes in the Croat race, and Cvijanovic led the Serb race with 213,812 votes, the Sarajevo media reported.
With over 94 percent of votes counted later on Sunday, Filipovic held a commanding lead for the Croat seat, while Becirovic led Izetbegovic by fewer than three percentage points in the Bosniak contest. Both Filipovic and Becirovic declared victory in their races before all votes were counted.
Low turnout
The commission said 1,432,269 votes were cast in total, a turnout of 42 percent that was down by around 8 percent from Bosnia's last election in 2022. About 3.4 million voters were eligible to choose the three members of the presidency, legislators for the national parliament and heads of institutions for the country's two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.
Voters in Sunday's election also decided on the president and vice-presidents of Republika Srpska, the new convocation of the National Assembly of RS, the House of Representatives of the Federation, and the assemblies of the ten cantons in the Federation.
Divided country
Bosnia's complex web of governing institutions was created by a United States-brokered peace agreement in 1995 to manage the ethnic divisions between Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats that gave rise to the 1992-95 war. The major parties' repeated focus on war-era rhetoric and division frustrated some voters, activist Adi Selman of the Karton Revolucija protest group told the AFP news agency in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla.
"I don't think these new elections in Bosnia will change anything," the 34-year-old said ahead of the vote. "The choice is limited to political parties that have already been around for 30 years and basically pick up votes by harping on about war, tensions, divisions and the past."
Such divisions have blocked Bosnia's progress toward joining the European Union despite the bloc's efforts to encourage the country's divided leaders to work together for reform.
Sources:
- [CEC: Bećirović, Filipović and Cvijanović lead in race for BiH Presidency](https://en.vijesti.me/world-a/balkan/829820/Cik-Becirovic--Filipovic-and-Cvijanovic-are-leading-in-the-race-for-the-presidency-of-BiH--Minic-for-the-president-of-RS)
- [Leftists, nationalists, lead in early results in complex Bosnia elections](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/4/economic-woes-ethnic-rivalries-shape-bosnias-closely-watched-elections)
Becirovic, representing the Social Democratic Party (SDP-BiH), led the contest for the Bosniak seat. Cvijanovic of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) led the race for the Serb seat. The Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ-BiH) Filipovic led the field for the Croat seat.
Counting still under way
According to the first preliminary results published by the commission, about 80 percent of ballots had been processed when the early snapshot was released. Becirovic had 164,369 votes, ahead of Bakir Izetbegovic with 148,036, Semir Efendic with 110,530 and Fahrudin Radoncic with 9,320. Filipovic had 92,000 votes in the Croat race, and Cvijanovic led the Serb race with 213,812 votes, the Sarajevo media reported.
With over 94 percent of votes counted later on Sunday, Filipovic held a commanding lead for the Croat seat, while Becirovic led Izetbegovic by fewer than three percentage points in the Bosniak contest. Both Filipovic and Becirovic declared victory in their races before all votes were counted.
Low turnout
The commission said 1,432,269 votes were cast in total, a turnout of 42 percent that was down by around 8 percent from Bosnia's last election in 2022. About 3.4 million voters were eligible to choose the three members of the presidency, legislators for the national parliament and heads of institutions for the country's two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.
Voters in Sunday's election also decided on the president and vice-presidents of Republika Srpska, the new convocation of the National Assembly of RS, the House of Representatives of the Federation, and the assemblies of the ten cantons in the Federation.
Divided country
Bosnia's complex web of governing institutions was created by a United States-brokered peace agreement in 1995 to manage the ethnic divisions between Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats that gave rise to the 1992-95 war. The major parties' repeated focus on war-era rhetoric and division frustrated some voters, activist Adi Selman of the Karton Revolucija protest group told the AFP news agency in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla.
"I don't think these new elections in Bosnia will change anything," the 34-year-old said ahead of the vote. "The choice is limited to political parties that have already been around for 30 years and basically pick up votes by harping on about war, tensions, divisions and the past."
Such divisions have blocked Bosnia's progress toward joining the European Union despite the bloc's efforts to encourage the country's divided leaders to work together for reform.
Sources:
- [CEC: Bećirović, Filipović and Cvijanović lead in race for BiH Presidency](https://en.vijesti.me/world-a/balkan/829820/Cik-Becirovic--Filipovic-and-Cvijanovic-are-leading-in-the-race-for-the-presidency-of-BiH--Minic-for-the-president-of-RS)
- [Leftists, nationalists, lead in early results in complex Bosnia elections](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/4/economic-woes-ethnic-rivalries-shape-bosnias-closely-watched-elections)
