RIK Certifies Elmir Habibovic's List for Bosniak Council
At its 34th session, the Republic Electoral Commission certified a 35-candidate list for the November 8 elections. It is the fifth list certified for the national councils.
The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) certified the list “Sandzak Democratic Party Elmir Habibovic” at a session held on September 28, 2026, for the direct election of members of the National Council of the Bosniak national minority, scheduled for November 8. The session, the 34th in the commission’s sequence, was chaired by RIK deputy chair Marko Jankovic.
The list was submitted by the Sandzak Democratic Party (SDP). The commission found that it meets the requirements: it carries 35 candidates and includes the required number of candidates from the underrepresented sex.
How many voters backed the list?
A total of 1,511 voter statements were submitted, and RIK found 1,506 of them valid. The special voter register of the Bosniak national minority listed 113,248 voters as of September 16, 2026, so the minimum number of certified statements needed to back a list was 1,132. The list cleared that threshold by 374 statements.
Which lists have been certified so far?
With this list, according to Insajder, five lists have been certified for the November 8 national council elections:
- September 25: “HNV - Croatian National Vision - Jasna Vojnic” for the National Council of the Croatian national minority
- September 26: “Hungarian Unity” for the Hungarian minority council
- September 26: “Slovaks Together” for the Slovak minority council
- September 26: “United for the HNV” for the Croatian minority council
That means two lists have been certified for the Croatian council, and one each for the Hungarian, Slovak and Bosniak councils.
Who elects the councils on November 8?
The elections were called on September 18 by Demo Berisa, the caretaker Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue. Two days earlier, on September 16, the ministry provisionally closed the special voter registers and found that 21 national minorities met the conditions for direct elections, among them the Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovak and Croatian minorities. Members of the Goran and Russian minorities choose their representatives through an electoral assembly.
For direct elections, RIK handles nominations and election procedures, and electoral lists with certified voter statements are submitted to it. Regular national council elections are held every four years, and the previous ones took place on November 13, 2022.
