Early results from Bosnia's weekend election point to political deadlock along ethnic lines, although the moderate son of Bosnia's wartime Muslim leader is set to become one of its three presidents.
Results of more than half of votes for the central parliament showed the majority Muslims had turned away from nationalists, with the multi-ethnic SDP making the strongest showing, and Serbs remaining loyal to a nationalist party.
A possible win by parties promoting diametrically opposed policies gave little hope that a national coalition could be formed soon and reforms unfrozen, political analysts and diplomats said.
The differing perspectives in the two halves of the country are "so far apart that it is completely uncertainwhat parties will succeed to reach an agreement to form a parliamentary majority on the state level," said Milos Solaja, director of the Centre for International Relations in the Serb Republic's capital, Banja Luka.
Reuters