Bosniaks first boycotted, then massively turned out for elections

New elections for mayor and municipal council are being held today in the municipality of Stolac. 20 polling stations have been opened and 4 mobile teams have started working, writes Patria.

By 11:00 AM, out of the registered 10,012 voters at regular polling stations, 2,612 or 26.09% of voters had cast their ballots.

The number of voters in the municipality of Stolac is 11,404, of which 10,012 are regular, 1,321 voters are registered outside of BiH, 31 voters are registered to vote in absentia, and 40 voters are registered to vote in person.

At 4:00 PM, voter turnout results up to 3:00 PM will be announced.

Interestingly, according to information from Stolac, Bosniaks gathered around the Initiative for Stolac were initially called to boycott the elections, but in the meantime, they were urged to turn out after noticing no irregularities in the electoral process. The entire process is also being monitored by the Coalition "Pod lupom" (Under the Microscope).

We remind you that the Initiative's candidate Salmir Kaplan was removed from the candidate list by a decision of the Central Election Commission (CIK), as were several other candidates.

Running for mayor are Stjepan Bošković (HDZ BiH) and Mato Komšić (independent).

The Head of the OSCE Mission in BiH, Jonathan Moore, and the First Deputy High Representative in BiH, Bruce Berton, are visiting Stolac today. Moore called on all citizens to exercise their democratic duty.