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by Daria Sito-Sucic
SARAJEVO, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Readers in Bosnia and Herzegovina were called to the polls on Sunday to vote for the country’s new collegiate presidency, their MPs and members of regional and local assemblies, a poll dominated by clashes between nationalist parties and reformists.
Nearly 3.4 million people are registered to vote in a country that is going through its worst political crisis since the end of the civil war.
Polling stations, open since 07:00 (05:00 GMT) closed at 19:00 (17:00 GMT); the first official results are expected at midnight but the political parties should publish their own estimates around 10 p.m.
At 3 p.m., the turnout was 35%.
The electoral campaign was marked by numerous speeches in a nationalist and aggressive tone from parties still marked by the country’s ethnic divisions, relegating issues related to the economic crisis to the background.
The absence of reliable opinion polls makes any forecast perilous, but many analysts believe that the nationalist parties will continue to dominate the political scene after the election and that the main change could come from the Bosnian Muslim camp, the politically most important and diverse.
The leader of the Democratic Action Party (SDA), Bakir Izetbegovic, is in the running for the post reserved for the Bosnian Muslim community within the collegial presidency against Denis Becirovic, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). , anti-nationalist, supported by 11 opposition movements from civil society.
The other big duel opposes the leader of the separatist camp of the Serb Republic of Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, the opposition economist Jelena Trivic
Within the Croatian camp, several parties have warned that they could block the formation of a government if the moderate Zeljko Komsic wins the seat reserved for the Croatian community in the collegiate presidency, saying that he could only be elected with voice of Bosnians and that he would therefore not be legitimate to represent the Croats.
(Report Daria Sito-Sucic, French version Marc Angrand and Nicolas Delame)