BNV Election Results: Cuvari Sandzaka Lack a Majority

According to unofficial data, none of the four lists in the Bosniak National Council (BNV) election reached 18 seats, the number needed for a majority in the 35-member body. The Cuvari Sandzaka list, backed by the SDA of Sandzak, declared victory, while media outlets differ on the exact number of votes and seats.

There are no official results yet. Dusan Dincic, a member of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), told FoNet that the commission will announce preliminary results for all national councils at a session today, November 9, at 8 p.m. The deadline for results of direct elections is 96 hours after polling stations close. Every figure in this text is therefore a claim by the lists, their representatives or the media, not a result anyone has certified.

We reported on the opening of polling stations on November 8. According to Beta, 114,777 voters were entered in the special BNV voter register. The lists competing for 35 seats were Cuvari Sandzaka, the Sandzak Democratic Party of Elmir Habibovic, the Movement for the Unification of Bosniaks of Usame Zukorlic, and United Bosniaks of Samir Tandir.

What is claimed about votes and seats?

The figures broadly agree, though not down to the last digit:

• Radio-Television Novi Pazar published an unofficial seat allocation on November 8: Cuvari Sandzaka 15 seats, SDP 13, the Usame Zukorlic list seven, and United Bosniaks none.
• Beta, whose report Nova.rs carried, says Cuvari Sandzaka won more than 15,000 votes, about 42 percent, with 15 seats. The Sandzak Democratic Party list has over 12,000 votes (35 percent, 13 seats), the Usame Zukorlic list over 7,000 (20 percent, seven seats), and Tandir’s list fewer than 1,000.
• PP media, based on 66 of 67 polling stations counted, reports 15,063 votes (42.5 percent) for Cuvari Sandzaka and 12,503 votes (35.2 percent) for SDP. Its headline also claims SDP came first in Prijepolje, Priboj and Nova Varos.
• RTS carried percentages: Cuvari Sandzaka 42.8, SDP 34.7, Movement for the Unification of Bosniaks 19.9 and United Bosniaks 2.5 percent.

The SNews portal, as reported by the weekly Vreme, gives a different allocation: 16 seats for Cuvari Sandzaka, 12 for SDP (9,833 votes, 32.7 percent), seven for the Zukorlic list (6,142 votes, 20.4 percent), and 663 votes (2.2 percent) and no seats for Tandir’s list. Vreme also reports that Sandzak Danas, using data from the SDA election portal and the RTV Novi Pazar Election Center, calculated that Cuvari Sandzaka have 10,646 votes (43.27 percent). That absolute number does not match the figures above, and the sources we reviewed do not explain why.

What would 15 seats without a majority mean?

A majority on its own takes 18 seats. Under the 15-seat allocation, Cuvari Sandzaka are three short, and under the SNews allocation two short. The sources contain no confirmed coalition agreements, and Vreme assesses that a deal between the lists will decide who leads the council.

Vreme also cites a comparison with the previous election: by some counts the SDA would have five more seats than then, the list around SDP one more, and the Zukorlic list would fall from 12 seats to seven.

Fuad Bacicanin of the Cuvari Sandzaka list, who declared victory, said, according to RTS, that the council’s continuity of work and the foundations on which it was established would be preserved. We found no reaction to these figures from the Sandzak Democratic Party list or the Zukorlic list.

What did the list leaders say on election day?

According to the Working Body for the Conduct of Elections, voting began without delay: all 67 polling stations in Novi Pazar opened on time, and by noon 7.73 percent of voters there had voted, Sandzak Danas and SANA report. RTS says the election passed peacefully in Novi Pazar, Tutin, Sjenica, Priboj, Prijepolje and Nova Varos.

Sulejman Ugljanin, president of the SDA of Sandzak, voted at polling station 64. Addressing citizens, he said:

Political struggle means determination at any cost, perseverance to the end. The struggle for good

He added that political struggle is not “achieved by waiting, keeping silent and nodding”, and went on: “That is what slaves do. That does not belong to us,” FoNet reported via Danas.

Elmir Habibovic, head of the Sandzak Democratic Party list, voted at polling station 60 and said:

Elections are a civilizational act, they show the degree of democracy and progress of a people. Today I did my duty and I call on all citizens in Novi Pazar and Sandzak to come out and circle the list they believe will represent them best in the most important representative body of Bosniaks in Serbia, the Bosniak National Council. I wish everyone luck, and I personally hope for victory

SANA carried the statement. Habibovic spoke before the polls closed, so he was not commenting on a result.

Usame Zukorlic, president of the Justice and Reconciliation Party and head of the Movement for the Unification of Bosniaks list, voted at polling station 22. He said:

I expect the election to pass today in a peaceful atmosphere, for Bosniaks to exercise their political right, to vote, to choose their representatives who will represent them in the Bosniak National Council and advance their national interests. Our right to education in the Bosnian language, our culture, information in the Bosnian language, and the official use of the Bosnian language in institutions depend further on these elections. The Bosniak National Council has a significant role in the rights of Bosniaks, so it is important that Bosniaks choose their representatives who will represent them in the best way through this institution, the most important one for Bosniaks

Until the RIK session at 8 p.m., what remains are estimates from campaign headquarters and the media, and they do not match one another.