Local elections, 6 October 2024

Floods, October 2024  

On 4 October 2024, severe rainfall struck Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), leading to flash floods that triggered landslides and caused extensive damage to homes, with some residents still inside. At least 26 people lost their lives, including 19 from the hardest-hit town of Jablanica (AP 2024). Roads and railways in Jablanica were swept into the river, rendering the town inaccessible. Residents were advised to stay indoors and move to the upper floors of their homes – but in the village of Donja, near Jablanica, debris reached up to the rooftops (Emric 2024; Klix 2024). 

Bosnia had experienced record-high temperatures over the summer, with three heatwaves and almost no rain. The resulting drought hindered the soil's ability to absorb floodwaters, worsening the impact of the floods (Paternoster 2024). Extreme weather events and floods in BiH have become more frequent in recent decades, causing loss of life, human displacement and damage to property and infrastructure – aligning with IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) predictions that damage and losses from river floods will substantially increase in Europe this century (Vulovic 2025). BiH’s high vulnerability to flooding is also linked to the country’s heavy reliance on hydro power (Vulovic 2025).  

Impact on the electoral process  

Local elections took place on 6 October 2024 in all municipalities except for Fojnica, Jablanica, Kiseljak, Konjic and Kreševo, due to relief efforts and the extensive damage to 113 polling stations. The electoral postponement for these five municipalities affected 63,180 registered voters. According to the legal framework, elections must be held within seven to 30 days from the initially scheduled date. Electoral campaigns were cut short by most major parties due to the floods, which took place on the designated last day of campaigning (OSCE 2024) as a sign of respect and to appeal for assistance (Vulovic 2025).  

Elections took place on 20 October 2024 in four out of the five municipalities that saw postponement. As Jablanica was hit the hardest, the election was held a little later, on 3 November (Tuzlanski 2024; FENA 2024). 

Elections in the rest of the country were held as scheduled, and there were no issues with the transport of election materials. Although the country’s administrative structure is complex, voter registration was unaffected since voter registration for in-country voters in BiH is passive; registration of out-of-country voters is still active but is done online, and the voters’ registers for mobile teams were concluded 20 days prior (Vulovic 2025).  

 
Voter turnout at Fojnica, Kiseljak and Kreševo was respectively 51.6 per cent; 46.6 per cent; and 51.4 per cent and 55.08 per cent (Institute for Statistics 2024; Vulovic 2025). In the 2020 municipal election, Fojnica had a turnout of 54.7 per cent, Kiseljak 52.9 per cent, Kreševo 52.7 per cent and Konjic 56.9 per cent (Institute for Statistics 2021). All these municipalities thus show a decrease in turnout, a trend that may be attributed to the widespread dissatisfaction with the authorities’ response to the catastrophic floods and landslides, but also the fact that people were more concerned about saving their properties and livelihoods than going to the polls (Vulovic 2025). Turnout in Jablanica was 66.3 per cent (CEC 2024), a small decrease from 2020 which saw 66.6% in turnout (Institute for Statistics 2021).