Key candidates for Bosnia's three-man presidency
Veteran Serb, Croat and Bosnian politicians are all notorious for corruption
Milorad Dodik, President of the Republika Srpska speaks during an interview with Reuters in his office in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. PHOTO: REUTERS
SARAJEVO:
Many of the top candidates running on Sunday for Bosnia's tripartite presidency - shared by a Serb, Croat and Bosnian - are veteran politicians in a country known for corruption.
Here are some of the front-runners:
Having completed his term as the firebrand leader of Bosnia's semi-autonomous Serb region, Milorad Dodik is eying a seat in the national tripartite presidency.
It may seem a surprising move for a man who has described post-war Bosnia as a "failed concept" and refers to Sarajevo, the seat of the central government, as "foreign territory".
But it would not be the politician's first 180-degree turn. Dodik rose to power as a Western-backed Social Democrat. Today, he is known as a hardline pro-Russia nationalist who has been sanctioned by the US for his provocations.
The 59-year-old also regularly discusses holding a referendum on the secession of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity he has led since 2006.
Dodik is up against Mladen Ivanic, a moderate incumbent running for his second term as the Serb member of Bosnia's presidency. Ivanic has cast Dodik as a threat to stability.
"He is leading us towards uncertainty, towards risk, conflicts, isolation," Ivanic said of Dodik in September.
The 60-year-old economist started his political career with the Communist party in 1988, before the collapse of Yugoslavia and the 1992-1995 war that thrashed Bosnia.
In 1999 he founded the PDP party and served as Republika Srpska's Prime Minister from 2001 to 2003.
Ivanic also served as Bosnia's foreign minister from 2003 to 2007.
Dragan Covic has held the Croat seat of Bosnia's presidency since 2014 and is now running for a second term as head of the nationalist HDZ party.
The 62-year-old has called for the creation of a separate entity for Croats, who are currently the minority in a federation with Bosnian Muslims.
Covic argues the rights of Croats - who make up 15.4 per cent of the population - are sidelined in a system favouring Serbs and Bosnian Muslims.
An ethnic Croat from Sarajevo, Zeljko Komsic is one candidate who refuses to play up Bosnia's ethnic divides.
The former president, who held office from 2006-2014, fought with the mainly Muslim forces that defended Sarajevo during a siege by Serbs in the 1990s.
Today he defends a Bosnia "of citizens" and criticises the ethnic politics entrenching Bosnia's divisions.
Komsic, 54, is popular among some urban voters nostalgic for Sarajevo's pre-war, multicultural past.
But the leader of the Democratic Front alliance will have a tough time beating Croat favourite Covic.
Bosnian media mogul Fahrudin Radoncic, 61, is making his third bid for the Muslim seat in the presidency. And this year he has a fair shot.
Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the main Muslim SDA party who defeated him twice, cannot run for another term.
Radoncic, a former security minister, is considered more liberal than his predecessor and capable of compromise with Croats and Serbs.
He has often criticised Izetbegovic's ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In May, he was acquitted of charges of obstructing justice in a drug-trafficking trial for a regional drug kingpin. His main rival, Sefik Dzaferovic of the SDA, is seen as lacking charisma.
Many of the top candidates running on Sunday for Bosnia's tripartite presidency - shared by a Serb, Croat and Bosnian - are veteran politicians in a country known for corruption.
Here are some of the front-runners:
Having completed his term as the firebrand leader of Bosnia's semi-autonomous Serb region, Milorad Dodik is eying a seat in the national tripartite presidency.
It may seem a surprising move for a man who has described post-war Bosnia as a "failed concept" and refers to Sarajevo, the seat of the central government, as "foreign territory".
But it would not be the politician's first 180-degree turn. Dodik rose to power as a Western-backed Social Democrat. Today, he is known as a hardline pro-Russia nationalist who has been sanctioned by the US for his provocations.
The 59-year-old also regularly discusses holding a referendum on the secession of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity he has led since 2006.
Dodik is up against Mladen Ivanic, a moderate incumbent running for his second term as the Serb member of Bosnia's presidency. Ivanic has cast Dodik as a threat to stability.
"He is leading us towards uncertainty, towards risk, conflicts, isolation," Ivanic said of Dodik in September.
The 60-year-old economist started his political career with the Communist party in 1988, before the collapse of Yugoslavia and the 1992-1995 war that thrashed Bosnia.
In 1999 he founded the PDP party and served as Republika Srpska's Prime Minister from 2001 to 2003.
Ivanic also served as Bosnia's foreign minister from 2003 to 2007.
Dragan Covic has held the Croat seat of Bosnia's presidency since 2014 and is now running for a second term as head of the nationalist HDZ party.
The 62-year-old has called for the creation of a separate entity for Croats, who are currently the minority in a federation with Bosnian Muslims.
Covic argues the rights of Croats - who make up 15.4 per cent of the population - are sidelined in a system favouring Serbs and Bosnian Muslims.
An ethnic Croat from Sarajevo, Zeljko Komsic is one candidate who refuses to play up Bosnia's ethnic divides.
The former president, who held office from 2006-2014, fought with the mainly Muslim forces that defended Sarajevo during a siege by Serbs in the 1990s.
Today he defends a Bosnia "of citizens" and criticises the ethnic politics entrenching Bosnia's divisions.
Komsic, 54, is popular among some urban voters nostalgic for Sarajevo's pre-war, multicultural past.
But the leader of the Democratic Front alliance will have a tough time beating Croat favourite Covic.
Bosnian media mogul Fahrudin Radoncic, 61, is making his third bid for the Muslim seat in the presidency. And this year he has a fair shot.
Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the main Muslim SDA party who defeated him twice, cannot run for another term.
Radoncic, a former security minister, is considered more liberal than his predecessor and capable of compromise with Croats and Serbs.
He has often criticised Izetbegovic's ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In May, he was acquitted of charges of obstructing justice in a drug-trafficking trial for a regional drug kingpin. His main rival, Sefik Dzaferovic of the SDA, is seen as lacking charisma.