2016 Bosnian municipal elections
Municipal elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 October 2016 to elect mayors and assemblies in 144 municipalities and cities.
A total of 3,263,906 voters were registered in the Central Voters’ Register, including 65,111 by-mail voters. Around 25,000 citizens voted at polling stations in diplomatic representations abroad.
30,000 candidates were contesting the election for 2,835 local councillors, 301 city councillors, 131 municipal mayors and 12 city majors.
The Central Electoral Commission registered a total of 3,179,720 persons eligible to vote ; 1,739,756 votes were cast, of which 1,635,602 valid, and 104,154 invalid.
Summary
Local elections took place in a rather heated political environment, being preceded by one week by an illegal referendum in the Republika Srpska entity on the 9 January holiday, which had been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. Although the same Court declared the referendum null and void, it took place equally. The political discourse in the pre-electoral period focus on ethno-national issues rather than local administration.Voting took place regularly and without major incidents. For the first time, a 40% gender quota was applied to candidate lists; however, only seven women were elected as mayor out of 144.
Some irregularities in the electoral process were reported, including as regards inflated voters' lists and the politicisation of electoral administration. No elections could be held in Mostar, for the second time in a row. Elections in Stolac were suspending following violent incidents and later repeated on 19 February.
Results
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
By municipality
By party
Republika Srpska
By municipality
By party
| Party | Mayors elected in 2012 elections | Mayors elected in 2016 elections | +/- |
| Alliance of Independent Social Democrats | 17 | 30 | 13 |
| Serb Democratic Party | 32 | 16 | 16 |
| Democratic People's Alliance | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Socialist Party | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Party of Democratic Progress | 1 | 1 | |
| National Democratic Movement | / | 1 | 1 |
| Serbian Radical Party of Republika Srpska | 1 | 1 | |
| Serb Radical Party | / | 1 | 1 |
| Independents and coalitions | 3 | 4 | 1 |