Bosnian election watchdog said Sunday that the turnout in Mostar local elections was only 16 percent by 11 am.
The turnout is somewhat lower than expected, especially considering that the #TvojGlasJeBitan (“YourVoteCounts) campaign predicted that 81 percent of Mostar youths will exit the polls.
The Central Election Watchdog added they will report on the turnout by 4 pm at 5 pm local time.
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Watchdog's President Zeljko Bakalar and members Vlado Rogic and Ahmet Santic visited a polling station at the Fourth Brankovac Elementary School, the Commission said.
Mostar's polling station will remain open from 7 am to 7 pm.
The city has been in a deadlock for over 12 years, with two main ethnic-oriented parties in the city unable to reach a consensus over how the elections will be held. In June 2020, the largest Bosniak party – Democratic Action Party (SDA) finally inked an agreement with the HDZ BiH, thus creating conditions for democratic elections in the city.
The agreement was signed by Bakir Izetbegovic and Dragan Covic, the leaders of the Democratic Party Action (SDA) and the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), in presence of foreign ambassadors and Mostar's local politicians.
The local elections in the City of Mostar were last held in 2008. Two years later, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina acted upon motion of Croat representatives in the state Parliament, assessing as unconstitutional parts of the Bosnia’s Election Law which refer to the City Statute.
The court tasked the state Parliament in 2010 to amend the Election Law regarding the provisions which treat the electoral rules in that city but this did not happen to date and Mostar elections remain the subject of political disagreements, mostly of two main parties in this city, the SDA and HDZ BiH which signed the deal.
