By Talha Ozturk
BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – A total 3.35 million Bosnian voters are eligible to cast ballots in Sunday’s general election, the election commission announced Friday.
The polling stations will open their doors at 7 a.m. (0500GMT) and will close at 7 p.m. local time (1700GMT), Bosnia and Herzegovina's Central Election Commission Director Branko Petric said in a press conference in capital Sarajevo.
The voting will be conducted across the country at 5,794 polling stations. 314 mobile teams will circle around for 10,000 citizens unable to head to the polls.
This year, some 78,000 registered voters living abroad are eligible to vote at diplomatic and consular missions in Vienna, Oslo, Belgrade, Chicago, Munich, Frankfurt, and Graz.
Meanwhile, the election silence will be effective as of 7 p.m. local time on Saturday and will last until all the polling stations are closed at 7 p.m. local time on Sunday.
“During electoral silence, all political activities are prohibited by anyone and anywhere for a political campaign. The participant parties are allowed to carry out daily activities,” Branko Petric said.
About 6,500 observers — including 1,000 foreign observers — were accredited to monitor the elections.
Also there will be around 60,000 party observers.
Voters of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday will decide on a mind-blowing number of national and sub-national presidencies, parliaments, and assemblies in one of the most intricate political systems in the world.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has two entities, 10 cantons, and an autonomous region. The country's complex political structure, the crippling economic crisis, unemployment and memories of the war make the elections even more complicated.
Election authority has cleared 67 political parties to participate in the elections. This is the highest figure since the 2002 elections.
The elections will also see 34 independent candidates and 34 alliances at different levels of the state functions.
In total, nearly 7,500 candidates will run for 518 posts which equals an average of 14 candidates for every single post up for grabs.
