A woman reads voting instructions for Bosnia’s October 2018 general elections at a voting station in central Sarajevo. Photo: EPA-EFE/Fehim Demir

Bosnia’s Central Election Commission, CIK, has postponed local elections due in October for six weeks, to November 15, after political rowsheld up the adoption of a budget for 2020 and funding for the ballot within the legally permitted deadline to start preparations. 

The CIK two weeks ago called the elections for October 4. On Saturday it told a news conference that it had now asked the central government to allocate the money it needs for the elections separately from the budget.CIK presidentVanja Bjelica-Prutina said it would now start preparing material for the vote in time for November.

Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of Bosnia’s three-member state presidency, blasted the CIK decision as “illegitimate”, following his earlier complaints that the recent appointment of new Serbian members of the elections commission was illegal.

Dodik, whose Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, rules in the mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, told RS radio that his party was ready to strike a financing deal for the elections.

The central government in Bosnia provides about half of the 8.2 million Bosnianmarks or so (4.1 million euros) needed for organising the elections. The 120 municipalities and 22 towns and cities in the two entities and inBrcko District provide the rest. 

For the third time, local elections will not take place in the southern city of Mostar, which last voted in a new local administration in 2008. The mainBosniak and Croat parties have still not resolved a long-standing constitutional problem and agreed a new power-sharing scheme for the city. 

Central government PM ZoranTegeltija and Bosnian Serb ministers held up the adoption of the 2020 budget in March, first because they wanted foreign judges removed from the Bosnian Constitutional Court and then because they said the draft budget didn’t take into enough account of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bosnia’s two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, have greatly relaxed the strict measures imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus in recent weeks.

But the long-term economic impact of the pandemic is still expected to be significant. The World Bank has said it expects economic output in Bosnia to fall by 3.2 per cent this year.

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, has already approved a 330-million-euros emergency loan, while the European Commission has allocated another 250 million euros in financial assistance. 

Disagreements over the budget appeared finally to fade this week, with Tegeltija saying it should be adopted by May 31.