War-Scarred Bosnian City Goes to Polls After 12 Years of Ethnic Deadlock

THE BOSNIAN city of Mostar, which has become a bleak symbol of the 1990s Balkan war, has gone to the polls after 12 years of ethnic democratic deadlock.

The Balkan city, renowned worldwide for its Ottoman architecture and beautiful geographic setting, became a symbol of the brutal war that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Its iconic stone bridge was destroyed by ethnically divided forces, though now the proud city has forsaken years of conflict to host its first elections in over a decade.

The city’s ethnic divide has made local governance near impossible for years. The west side of the river Drina is mainly home to Croats, while the east is primarily populated by Bosniaks. A lack of consensus on municipal boundaries has led to rubbish lying in the streets uncollected, poor bus services, and parallel public amenities operating on either side of the city.

The new election date was won after years of progressive struggle for democratic practices fought by members from both ethnic sides, including  Irma Baralija, a philosophy teacher from Mostar who sued the Bosnian government for failing to hold elections in the European Court of Human Rights.

Bosnia is not a member of the European Union, and the troubled state suffers from a high rate of emigration and unemployment. The elections in Mostar have been represented by local media as a stark symbol of progress after decades of civil strife in one of Europe’s most volatile regions.

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