For Bosnian citizens, voting is more complicated than simply ticking a box for a political party or candidate. Most people heading for the polls Sunday will receive four separate ballots to cast their vote. Below are the different political races being contested:
- Presidency (state-level): Bosnia and Herzegovina has a chairperson presidency, where three presidents are elected, one from each of the "constituent peoples" (Bosniak, Serb, Croat). They serve for four years, and rotate every eight months. Under Bosnia's constitution, only Bosnian Serbs in Republika Sprska can vote for the Serbian candidate for president and vice versa in the Federation for the Bosniak and Croat presidential candidates.
- Legislative Assembly (state level): Bosnia's highest legislative assembly has two houses - the House of Representatives (42 seats) and the House of Peoples (15 seats - five seats of representation for each of the constituent people). Any legislation passed has to have approval from both houses.
- Legislative Assemblies (entity or regional level): Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into two administrative entities - the Bosniak/Croat Federation (Federacija Bosna i Hercegovina) and the Serb-led Republika Srpska - and an internationally-supervised division - Brčko District. Brčko District is self-governing but technically belongs to both the Federation and Republika Srpska.
- The Federation has its own House of Representatives (58 seats) and House of Peoples (98 seats) and elects a prime minister. Republika Srpska has a National Assembly (83 seats) and Republika Srpska Council of Peoples (28 seats) and elects a president.*
- Federation - canton level: The Bosniak/Croat Federation is further divided into 10 cantons, similar to provinces/states, each with its own assembly.
* Within each entity level assembly/legislative house, they are constitutionally-mandated to ensure proportional representation according to entity's population for the three constituent peoples and also for smaller communities/minorities.
Gillian Carr