Bosnia and Herzegovina's October 4 elections were genuinely competitive but took place against a deeply fragmented political backdrop and exposed persistent weaknesses in electoral administration, international observers said on October 5.

The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said contestants were largely able to reach voters, while the first nationwide use of new voting technologies represented progress in addressing concerns over electoral integrity. But delays, inadequate preparation and problems with the technology limited transparency.

"The political landscape is deeply fragmented, characterised by conflicting narratives still rooted in wartime divisions," the observers said in preliminary findings.

The OSCE said the introduction of biometric voter identification and ballot scanners strengthened safeguards, but technical difficulties and problems with secrecy of the ballot were observed at a significant number of polling stations. In one-fifth of stations observed during counting, officials made significant procedural omissions.

"The introduction of new technologies strengthened the integrity of the vote," said Davor Ivo Stier, head of the European Parliament observer delegation.

With more than 90% of votes counted, preliminary results pointed to a presidency comprising Denis Becirovic as the Bosniak member, HDZ BiH's Darijana Filipovic as the Croat member and SNSD's Zeljka Cvijanovic as the Serb member.

Becirovic won 38.12%, defeating SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic on 33.98%, while Filipovic took 46.55% and Cvijanovic 55.37%. Turnout was about 42%, down 9.5 percentage points from the 2022 nationwide elections.

The SNSD was leading the Republika Srpska parliamentary race with 38.93% of votes counted and its candidate Savo Minic was also positioned to become entity president, according to preliminary results. The results preserve the political influence of SNSD leader Milorad Dodik, who was barred from standing for public office after a conviction.

The SDA led the race for the Federation's House of Representatives with 30.58%, followed by the Social Democratic Party on 15.39% and an HDZ BiH-led coalition on 13.61%.

The observers also criticised restrictions on suffrage based on ethnicity and residence, the misuse of public resources and weaknesses in campaign finance oversight and election dispute resolution.

"Election day unfolded in a generally calm and peaceful atmosphere, both inside polling stations and in their surroundings," said Allessia Claes, head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observer delegation. "This is encouraging, but our observation also identified shortcomings that should be addressed."

The mission said further electoral reform was needed to strengthen democratic institutions and bring voting rights into line with European legal standards.