City voters boycott Bosnia's local polls

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Many Bosnian city dwellers, supporters of small, multi-ethnic parties, boycotted local polls Sunday in which nationalists reflecting ethnic rivalries are expected to hang onto power, 13 years after war ended.

The election commission said that voting in the capital and in other major centers was around 30 percent compared with 50 percent in most small towns, confirming warnings from analysts that people are disillusioned and tired of rhetoric.

"I vote in each election, and each time I have no big expectations, and each time I am right, unfortunately," said pensioner Stanko Pemac in Banja Luka, the capital of the Serb half of the country.

More than three million were registered to vote for city councils and mayors in the two autonomous regions created after the 1992-95 war, as well as in the neutral Brcko district. The overall turnout was 44.54 percent by 1400 GMT, roughly the same as the 45 percent turnout in the 2004 local elections.

"The winners are those who succeed in convincing voters they will best protect the interests of their ethnic group, attacking other groups," said Sanel Huskic of the Sarajevo-based ACIPS think tank.

VOTE SELLING

Election commission president Suad Arnautovic told reporters that the vote proceeded fairly, but the election commission barred mobile phones and cameras after reports of citizens selling votes.

The campaign was marked by hostile rhetoric and incidents, and the police in the Serb Republic last week arrested 17 party activists suspected of trying to bribe voters.

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) swept to power in a parliamentary election in Bosnia's Serb Republic in 2006.

Since then there has been constant rivalry between the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, which exist under a weak central government.

Dodik's SNSD party is set to remain dominant in the Serb region. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and splinter group HDZ 1990 are expected to win in Croat-dominated areas.

The Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina of presidency member Haris Silajdzic are expected to share Muslim votes, along with the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

(Additional reporting by Olja Stanic in Banja Luka; Editing by Louise Ireland)