Bosnian General Elections of 2010 and The Post-Election Crisis

Abstract

This paper examines the 2010 general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the post-election crisis.  Currently, Bosnia's political system is the result of the Dayton Accord that stopped the Bosnian war in 1995. Bosnia is described as a country with a multi-party system that regularly holds free, fair, and competitive elections. The 2010 elections brought significant changes to the composition of legislative assemblies at the cantonal, entity, and state levels. SNSD continued to dominate among the Bosnian Serbs, while HDZ and HDZ 1990 received the highest votes in the Croat majority areas. SDP, as only self-declared multi-ethnic party, won the majority of votes among Bosniaks. SDA secured almost the same number of seats while the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered the biggest loss. The phenomenon of each constituent people voting for their respective ethnic parties continues to characterize Bosnia‟s elections. Election results showed that there must be a wide range of political parties creating a parliamentary majority due to a rather complicated way of decision-making and law-passing procedures in Bosnia‟s political system. It triggered several waves of political crises since the leaders of political parties were not able to agree on a Prime Minister and other ministerial posts. 

Keywords

• Bosnia and Herzegovina, elections, political campaign, electoral law, political crisis.

2010 Bosna-Hersek Genel Seçimleri ve Sonrasında Yaşanan Kriz

Abstract

Bu çalışma 2010 yılında Bosna-Hersek'te yapılan genel seçimleri ve sonrasında yaşanan siyasi krizi ele almaktadır. Ülkede yürürlülükte olan siyasi sistem 1995 yılında Bosna Savaşı‟nı sona erdiren Dayton Anlaşması‟yla kurulmuştur. Buna göre, Bosna-Hersek düzenli aralıklarla özgür ve adil seçimlerin yapıldığı çok partili ve rekabetçi bir siyasi sisteme sahiptir. 2010 yılında yapılan genel seçimler ülkede hem kantonlar, hem Boşnak-Hırvat Federasyonu ve Sırp Cumhuriyeti hem de Bosna–Hersek devleti nezdinde önemli sonuçlar doğurmuştur. Bosna-Hersek‟i oluşturan üç ana etnik unsurun sadece kendi partilerine oy verdikleri bir kez daha doğrulanmıştır. Ülkenin karmaşık olan karar alma ve yasama süreçlerinden dolayı çok geniş yelpazedeki siyasi partilerin bir araya gelerek parlamenter bir çoğunluk oluşturmaları gereği bir kez daha açıkça görülmüştür. Nitekim seçim sonrası yaşanmakta olan krizde politik aktörlerin bir araya gelip Başbakanlık ve Bakanlıklar üzerinde anlaşmaları hala mümkün olmamıştır. Bu ise sadece Bosna–Hersek için değil üyesi bulunduğu uluslararası teşkilatlar için de ciddi olumsuzluklar doğurabilecek bir durumdur.

Keywords

• Bosna–Hersek, seçimler, siyasi kampanya, seçim sistemi, siyasi kriz.

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