SARAJEVO - Bosnians go to the polls on Sunday to choose the country's new collective presidency and lawmakers at national, regional and local levels, deciding between long-entrenched nationalist parties and reformists focused on the economy.
Nearly 3.4 million people are eligible to vote amid the worst political crisis in the Balkan country since the end of its war in the 1990s.
The crisis has been prompted by separatist policies of the Serb leadership and threats of blockades by Bosnian Croats.
The polls opened at 7am local time and close twelve hours later.
The first official results are expected at midnight but political parties are expected to come out with their own results at around 10pm.
Nearly three decades after war ravaged the Balkan country, Bosnia continues to be burdened by its ethnic divisions.
The Balkan state has been governed by a dysfunctional administrative system created by the 1995 Dayton Agreement that succeeded in ending the conflict in the 1990s, but largely failed in providing a framework for the country's political development.
Bosnia is comprised of two autonomous regions, the Serb-dominated Serb Republic and the Federation shared by Bosniaks and Croats, linked by a weak central government. The Federation is further split into 10 cantons. There is also the neutral Brcko district in the north.
Election campaigning by ruling ethnic parties was dominated by hate speech and nationalist rhetoric, focusing rather on themes of protection of national interests and criticism of opponents than on real-life issues such as jobs and soaring inflation.
A lack of reliable polls has made it difficult to predict the outcome.
But many analysts believe nationalist parties will remain dominant and that the biggest change may come in the Bosniak camp, which is the largest and most diverse.
Bakir Izetbegovic, leader of the largest Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of Democratic Action who is running for the Bosniak presidency member, is seen in a tight race with Denis Becirovic of the Social Democratic Party, whose bid is supported by 11 civic-oriented opposition parties.
Observers believe that Serb and Croat nationalist parties will remain in power but some polls have suggested that separatist pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik, who is running for the Serb Republic's president, is facing strong competition from opposition economist Jelena Trivic.
The Croat parties have warned they may block the formation of government after the vote if moderate Zeljko Komsic wins the job of the Croat presidency member. They say his victory could only be based on votes by majority Bosniaks and that they will not regard him as the legitimate Croat representative.
Many voters say that the lack of young candidates offering fresh ideas has left them largely uninspired on the eve of the elections.
"Most of the candidates that are running are the ones we have been watching for the last twenty years," said Sara Djogic, a 21-year-old philosophy student in the capital Sarajevo. "There are not many who offer something new," she added. AFP, REUTERS
