Yearbook 2006
 Bosnia and Herzegovina. More than ten years after the
Dayton Agreement, an election was held that was considered
historic - for the first time, the Bosnians appointed a
government that would govern the country without
international intervention. During the electoral movement,
however, it became clear that major differences existed in
the visions of the country's future. The Bosnian Serbs
mainly wanted to guard the semi-autonomous status of the two
sub-republics - or further strengthen the distinction. In
particular, Muslim Bosnians, on the other hand, increasingly
advocated the dismantling of the country's division in favor
of a strong central power. At the beginning of the year,
constitutional changes were discussed that would strengthen
the central government at the expense of the sub-republics.
A proposal was accepted by the presidential troika - with a
representative for each of the three peoples groups - but
was stopped in parliament in April.
The "High Representative" of the international community
Christian Schwarz-Schilling (who took over after Paddy
Ashdown at the beginning of the year) announced in June that
the world's direct government of Bosnia and Herzegovina
would cease to mid-year 2007. But many questioned the wisdom
of leaving the country with so obviously contradictory wills
on such an important issue as what the state of affairs
should look like.
At the beginning of the year, the government of the
Republic of Srpska was cast in a vote of no confidence. The
Serbian nationalist SDS that dominated politics in the
sub-republic since the end of the war thus lost its grip on
power. According to
CountryAAH, new government leader became former opposition leader Milorad Dodik. But Dodik and his Independent Social
Democrats Party (SNSD) also clearly guarded the Serbs'
special interests. Dodik quickly won the favor of the
Serbian nationalists by tearing up a decision to create a
joint national police force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He
also raised the idea of a referendum to completely break out
of the Republic of Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina,
inspired by Montenegro being separated from Serbia during
the year. Serbia also showed a clear interest in closer
association - or association - with the Republika Srspka.
In the October elections, SNSD won big in the Serbian
Republic. The Serbs' representative in the presidency became
the party's candidate Nebojša Radmanović. The Bosnians
appointed Haris Silajdžić as their representative in the
presidential troika. Silajdžić, who was prime minister and
foreign minister during the war, was the leader of the
moderate nationalist SBiH and powerful advocate for scraping
the sub-republics. The Croatian representative became the
Social Democratic SDP candidate Željko Komšić. The
parliamentary elections gave no one a victory and the
government negotiations were still going on at the end of
the year. The elections also applied to the parliaments of
the two sub-republics, president of the Republic of Srpska
and regional assemblies of the Bosnian-Croat Federation.
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