Bosnia election expected to re-legitimize a failing system

By SABINA NIKSIC
Associated Press

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnia’s general election should be about fighting rampant corruption and the country’s ailing economy. But Sunday’s vote appears set to be an easy test for the long-entrenched nationalists who have ignored the needs of the people. Voters are choosing the three members of the shared, Bosnian presidency, parliament deputies at the state, entity and regional levels, and the president of the country’s Serb-run part. The long-serving Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik, who is running for that last office, has used the election campaign to champion a secessionist agenda and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Bosnia’s sectarian post-war system of governance perpetuates a venomous political climate that leaves pragmatic, reform-minded Bosnians with little incentive to vote.