Head of OSCE Mission to Bosnia, Bruce Berton, said for N1 that Bosnia's October general election was competitive, but there were also many omissions. He warned that the authorities must not turn the blind eye to the fact that citizens are losing faith in the election process.

“We must work on improving the election process which this country desperately needs,” Berton said. “We’ve helped the Central Election Commission for years, but we can’t impose any solutions. The improvement of the election process lacks political will.”

Commenting on his meetings with the outgoing Croat Presidency member Dragan Covic, who is also the leader of the biggest Croat party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the nationalist Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), and the newly elected Serb Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, the leader of the nationalist Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Berton said he talked with Dodik about his use of divisive rhetoric.

“I told Dodik that, as Bosnia’s Presidency member, he represents all three constituent peoples. Dragan Covic told me he wouldn’t block the government formation process and my conversation with him was very constructive and positive,” Berton told N1.

Covic was the HDZ BiH’s candidate for the Croat member of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency but lost to Zeljko Komsic from the centre-left Democratic Front (DF).

Bosnia’s Presidency consists of three members coming from each of the constituent peoples: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats.

Berton also touched upon the migrant situation in the country, reiterating the claims by the International Migration Organisation and the UNHCR who said Bosnia would have enough capacities for migrant accommodation over the winter.

During the Monday Council of Ministers session, it was said that from January 1 to November 4, the state authorities registered 21,163 illegal migrants of which 19,986 expressed intent to claim asylum and only 1,314 did so.

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