VZCZCXRO3947
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHVJ #1891/01 2300707
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180707Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4213
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUFOAOA/USNIC SARAJEVO PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SARAJEVO 001891 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR (DICARLO), D (SMITH), P (BAME), EUR/SCE (HOH, SAINZ, 
FOOKS), NSC FOR BRAUN, USNIC FOR WEBER, GREGORIAN, OSD FOR 
FLORY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA:  OCTOBER NATIONAL ELECTION PRIMER 
 
SARAJEVO 00001891  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (U)  This is the first in a planned series of cables 
covering themes relevant to the October 1, 2006 national 
elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
 
¶2. (U) SUMMARY: Bosnia will hold national elections on 
October 1, 2006.  Bosnia's major political parties, all 
ethnically-based, will compete for power at the State (i.e., 
national), entity (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 
Republika Srpska), and local level (Federation Cantons).  At 
the State and entity levels, it is unlikely that any party 
will win an outright majority, which means a period of 
intense negotiation among the largest parties will follow the 
elections as they attempt to form coalition governments. 
Since the 2002 national elections, there have been two major 
changes to BiH,s election law.  The first is a new direct 
voter registration system, which has the potential to 
increase turnout, at least in absolute terms, from the 2002 
national elections.  The second is a three percent threshold 
for parties to be represented in State, entity and cantonal 
legislatures, which should eliminate the number of small 
parties represented in the State and entity legislatures. END 
SUMMARY 
 
INTRODUCTION 
------------ 
 
¶3. (U) On October 1, 2006 Bosnia will hold national 
elections.  Voters will be casting ballots for the following 
offices: 
 
-- The three members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) 
State-level Tri-Presidency; 
-- The President and Vice President of the Republika Srpska 
(RS); 
-- The BiH House of Representatives, the lower house of the 
State-level legislature; 
-- The Federation (FBiH) House of Representatives, which is 
the lower house of Federation legislature; 
-- Republika Srpska National Assembly (RSNA), the lower house 
of the RS legislature; and, 
-- Cantonal legislatures in all 10 Federation cantons (Note: 
Cantons exist only in the Federation.  Their legislatures are 
unicameral bodies). 
 
WHO IS COMPETING? 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (U) BiH's political parties traditionally have been 
affiliated with one of the three groups of constituent 
peoples of BiH, often lobbying exclusively along 
ethnic/nationalist lines.  Although bread and butter issues, 
such as unemployment, pensions and infrastructure development 
matter to the Bosnian electorate, political parties often 
resort to nationalist messages to mobilize voters.  Judging 
by political campaigning thus far, this election will be no 
exception.  BiH's major political parties are: 
 
-- Party for Democratic Action (SDA): Generally pro-Western 
and pro-reform Bosniak party led by President Sulejman Tihic. 
 The SDA has a sizable and influential Bosniak nationalist 
base, which emphasizes religious identity. 
 
-- Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH): Newly-invigorated 
Bosniak nationalist party led by former PM Haris Silajdzic. 
Its primary electoral issue is opposition to U.S.-backed 
constitutional reform. 
 
-- Social Democratic Party (SDP):  Center-left, mostly 
Bosniak party with multi-ethnic leadership, led by former PM 
Zlatko Lagumdzija.  Popular in Sarajevo and other urban 
areas, SDP is the only major party running an issue-based 
campaign. 
 
-- Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ): The largest, most well 
organized and powerful Croat political party, led by former 
President Dragan Covic. 
 
-- HDZ-1990: A new breakaway, ultra nationalist Croat party 
whose leadership left HDZ in March 2006 to oppose U.S.-backed 
constitutional reform, which HDZ and Covic backed. 
 
-- Serb Democratic Party (SDS): Historically the most 
popular, ultra-nationalist Serb party, SDS has emerged as a 
 
SARAJEVO 00001891  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
constructive, moderate voice under President Dragan Cavic. 
 
-- Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD): 
Center-moderate Serb party led by RS Prime Minister Milorad 
Dodik. 
 
-- Party of Democratic Progress of the Republika Srpska 
(PDP): Led by FM Mladen Ivanic, PDP RS tends to focus on 
economic progress in the RS. A small party, PDP could provide 
the crucial margin of seats required for larger parties 
seeking to form coalitions at the State level and in the RS. 
 
-- Patriotic Block (Coalition between the Social Democratic 
Union (SDU) and Bosnian Party (BOSS):  Bosniak parties that 
allied with SBiH and helped defeat constitutional amendments 
in April, but broke away after refusing to support 
Silajdzic's presidential candidacy.  May play the role of 
spoiler in the race for the Bosniak presidency seat. 
 
-- Croatian Party of Rights (HSP-Djapic-Jurisic)/New Croat 
Initiative (NHI) Coalition:  The coalition, which unites two 
smaller Croat parties, has shied away from nationalist 
rhetoric (especially in comparison with the other Croat 
parties), but opposed constitutional reform because it did 
not eliminate the entity structure. 
 
-- A total of 47 parties are participating in the election 
(compared to 57 in the 2002 national election), but several 
have formed coalitions, such as the HSP-NHI coalition listed 
above, which means voters will have 36 options on polling day. 
 
ELECTING THE BiH TRI-PRESIDENCY AND RS PRESIDENT 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5. (U) Voters will directly elect the three members of the 
BiH Tri-Presidency, who each represent one of the 
constitutionally-recognized "constituent peoples" of BiH: one 
Serb, one Croat and one Bosniak (Muslim).  Voters in the RS, 
regardless of their ethnicity, may only vote for Serb 
candidates for the Tri-Presidency  Likewise, Serb candidates 
for the Tri-Presidency must come from the RS.  Voters in the 
FBiH, again, regardless of their ethnicity, may only vote for 
either a Croat or Bosniak candidate for the Tri-Presidency 
Croat and Bosniak candidates must come from the FBiH.  These 
territorial and ethnic criteria run afoul of accepted 
international electoral practices, but are enshrined in the 
1995 Dayton Constitution.  (Note:  One of the proposed 
amendments to the constitution supported by the U.S. but 
defeated in the BiH parliament in April would have allowed 
for citizens throughout Bosnia to choose among presidential 
candidates from all ethnic groups.  End Note.) 
 
¶6.  (U) The winners of the Tri-Presidency are determined by a 
simple "first past the post" vote.  Current members of the 
rotating (every eight months) Tri-Presidency are Sulejman 
Tihic (Bosniak, SDA), Ivo Miro Jovic (Croat, HDZ) and 
Borislav Paravac (Serb, SDS).  Notably, SDP has chosen not to 
run a Bosniak candidate, but will run Zeljko Komsic, a Croat, 
in the FBiH and a Serb, Jugoslav Jovicic in the RS.  If 
Komsic wins, this would mean no Tri-Presidency seat for the 
traditional nationalist Croat parties, something that would 
be unprecedented in post-war BiH.  Other major party 
candidates are: 
 
-- Bosniak: Sulejman Tihic (SDA), Haris Silajdzic (SBiH), 
Mirnes Ajanovic (Patriotic Bloc), and Muhamed Cengic 
(National Party for Progress through Work, or RZB, a small 
party backed by a prominent meatpacking family). 
-- Croat: Ivo Miro Jovic (HDZ), Bozo Ljubic (HDZ-1990), Zeljo 
Komic (SDP), and Mladen Ivankovic-Ljianovic (RZB). 
-- Serb: Mladen Bosic (SDS), Nebojsa Radmanovic (SNSD), Zoran 
Tesanovic (PDP), and Nedo Duric (Democratic Movement of 
Srpska), and Jugoslav Jovicic (SDP). 
 
¶7.  (U) At the entity level, RS voters will choose the RS's 
President and Vice President in a "first past the post" 
ballot.  The current President of the Republika Srpska is SDS 
Dragan Cavic. 
 
ELECTING STATE, ENTITY AND CANTONAL LEGISLATURES 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶8. (U) Parties are awarded seats in the lower houses of the 
 
SARAJEVO 00001891  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
State, entity and cantonal legislatures proportionally within 
individual, multi-member electoral units (i.e., 
districts/constituencies). (Note: At the State level there is 
an extremely complicated system for awarding a small number 
of compensatory seats within each constituency as well. End 
Note). Voters may vote for a party, or they may vote for 
individual candidates within the same party.  Split ticket 
voting (i.e., choosing individual candidates from different 
political parties) is not permitted.  Parties rank their 
candidate lists within each electoral unit so that a vote for 
the party ticket gives the candidates at the top of the list 
the best chances of winning a seat.  However, the open list 
system creates an opportunity for voters to support 
particular candidates, rather than only a party's preferred 
slate.  For instance, if a party wins 10 seats, but a 
candidate ranked lower than position 10 on the list receives 
more votes than a candidate ranked 1-10 by the party, the 
lower-ranked candidate wins one of the ten seats. 
 
¶9. (U) The upper houses of legislatures at all three levels, 
the House of Peoples at the State level, the Federation House 
of Peoples, and the RS Council of Peoples, are indirectly 
elected.  The popularly elected legislatures form the 
governments, but at the State and entity levels, no party is 
likely to win an outright majority.  In these instances, 
parties will have to negotiate coalitions.  Once formed, the 
governing coalitions in the State and Federation House of 
Representatives, the RS National Assembly and cantonal 
legislatures, will elect the Chairman of the Council of 
Ministers (Prime Minister), the President and Prime Minister 
of the Federation, the RS Prime Minister and the cantonal 
prime ministers, respectively. 
 
CURRENT DISTRIBUTION OF POWER: BiH HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The State House of Representatives consists of 42 
delegates, two-thirds of whom are elected from the FBiH, and 
one-third from the RS.  There are five multi-member electoral 
constituencies in the FBiH and three in the RS.  The current 
balance of power is: 
 
-- SDA:        9 delegates 
-- SBiH:       6 delegates 
-- SDS:        4 delegates 
-- HDZ-1990:   4 delegates 
-- SNSD:       3 delegates 
-- SDP:        3 delegates 
-- HDZ:        1 delegate 
-- PDP:        1 delegate 
-- Others parties: 11 delegates. 
 
RS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 
-------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) The RSNA consists of 83 delegates who are elected 
from the RS.  There are six RSNA constituencies.  The current 
balance of power is: 
 
-- SDS:       24 delegates 
-- SNSD:      19 delegates 
-- PDP:       9 delegates 
-- SDA:       6 delegates 
-- SDP:       3 delegates 
-- SBiH:      3 delegates 
-- Other parties: 19 delegates 
 
(Note: Votes for Bosniak parties in the RS generally come 
from Bosniak returnees and internally displaced persons 
registered to vote as absentees in the RS, but who reside in 
the FBiH.  End Note.) 
 
FBiH HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
----------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) The Federation Parliament's House of Representatives 
has 98 delegates who are elected by voters in the Federation. 
 There are 12 FBiH House of Representative constituencies. 
The current balance of power is: 
 
-- SDA:       32 delegates 
-- SDP:       15 delegates 
-- SBiH:      15 delegates 
 
SARAJEVO 00001891  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
-- HDZ, HNZ   8 delegates 
-- HDZ-1990:  6 delegates 
-- SNSD:      1 delegate 
-- Other parties: 21 
 
KEY ELECTORAL CHANGES 
--------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) Various changes to the election law, originally 
passed in 2001, have rationalized aspects of BiH's electoral 
system.  Nevertheless, the electoral system remains 
complicated and unwieldy, much like the multi-layered 
government created by the Dayton Constitution.  One key 
change is the automatic (passive) registration of all 
citizens over the age of 18 upon receipt of their national 
identity card (CIPS card). The result is that there are 
400,000 more registered voters this year than there were for 
the 2004 municipal elections.  Experts expect another 100,000 
registrations prior to election day (Note: The deadline to 
receive one's CIPS card and be eligible to vote is August 18. 
 End note.) 
 
¶14. (U) A second significant change, adopted in April 2006, 
requires that a party must receive at least three percent of 
the votes within an electoral unit at the State, entity and 
cantonal level to be awarded seats in the respective 
legislature.  This change will make it difficult for smaller 
parties to win seats, particularly at the State level. 
Smaller parties likely will retain seats in entity and/or 
cantonal assemblies where their power base lies and where 
crossing the three percent threshold will be less of an 
obstacle.  This should create a more rational slate of 
parties capable of forming a State-level governing coalition, 
but may result in odd power dynamics between the cantons and 
the entity in the FBiH. 
CEFKIN