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Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general election is scheduled for Sunday, 4 October 2026. Voters elect representatives at the state level and, depending on their electoral geography, at entity and cantonal levels. They do not directly choose every institution: several parliamentary upper chambers and the Federation’s president and vice-presidents are selected indirectly after the election.
How Bosnia and Herzegovina is organized
Bosnia and Herzegovina is one state with two principal entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS). The Federation is divided into ten cantons. Each entity has its own institutions, alongside the state-level institutions.
This structure means a voter’s ballot depends on where they are registered. The state-level contests are common across the country, while entity-level contests differ between the Federation and RS. Federation voters also elect their canton’s assembly. In Brčko District, voters take part in entity contests according to their entity citizenship, as described by the OSCE/ODIHR.
What voters elect directly
The Central Election Commission’s 2026 information identifies the directly elected offices. The table separates those election-day choices from institutions filled indirectly afterward.
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| Electoral level | Directly elected | Who votes in the contest |
|---|---|---|
| State | The three-member Presidency and the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Voters across the country, in entity-based Presidency contests |
| Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina | The Federation House of Representatives and the relevant cantonal assembly | Federation voters; cantonal assembly contests are tied to the voter’s canton |
| Republika Srpska | The RS president and two vice-presidents, and the RS National Assembly | RS voters |
| After the direct election | State and entity upper chambers, and the Federation president and vice-presidents | Selected indirectly through processes involving elected representatives |
The Federation House of Representatives has 98 members, elected by secret ballot for a four-year term unless the Federation Constitution’s dissolution provisions apply, according to the Federation Parliament’s description of the chamber.
How the three-member Presidency is elected
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a collective Presidency, not one directly elected state president. Its three members are associated with the Bosniak, Croat, and Serb constituent peoples. Under the described arrangement, voters in the Federation choose from the Bosniak or Croat contest, while RS voters choose among Serb candidates.
These rules connect candidacy to ethnicity and residence. That is not merely an administrative feature of power-sharing: the OSCE/ODIHR reports that the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly found the restrictions incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The rules therefore shape both how the Presidency is constituted and who can stand for it.
How parliamentary seats are allocated
For the 2022 general-election framework, the OSCE/ODIHR describes preferential voting in multi-member constituencies for most state and entity parliamentary seats, combined with compensatory mandates allocated from closed party lists to produce proportional representation. That is a sourced description of the 2022 framework, not a confirmation of every detailed formula in force for the 2026 election.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe same 2022 report describes a simple-majority rule for the state Presidency contests and the RS Presidency. Readers should distinguish that account of the election method from the wider institutional structure: some bodies are elected on the ballot, while upper chambers and certain executive posts are filled indirectly after representatives have been chosen.
What is changing in the 2026 election
The Central Election Commission and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina identify biometric voter identification and authentication, ballot scanners, and electronic or rapid transmission of results as new administrative measures for this election. The cited descriptions do not establish that these technologies guarantee more accurate results or prevent fraud.
For operational planning, the CEC said on 2 October 2026 that polling stations would be open from 07:00 to 19:00 on election day, 4 October. It also reported 5,569 polling stations, including 5,121 regular stations and 385 mobile teams.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Election figures reported by the CEC
The CEC’s 2 October 2026 basic-information notice gives the following figures. The voter-register total is specifically dated 20 August; the other figures are reported in the 2 October notice.
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- 518 office holders are to be elected, with 7,028 certified candidates, according to the CEC on 2 October 2026.
- 3,408,517 registered voters, counted as of 20 August 2026, according to the same CEC notice.
- 48,078 out-of-country voters: 45,457 voting by mail and 2,621 at diplomatic-consular missions, as reported by the CEC on 2 October 2026.
The CEC’s 7 May announcement gave an earlier figure of 3,414,364 registered voters as of 6 May 2026. The later notice uses a more recent register count, so the dates matter when comparing the totals.
Where to check personal voting information
The CEC says its election portal lets voters check their polling-station location, candidates, and voting procedures, and includes video instructions. Its notice also said that citizens living abroad had to apply to vote outside Bosnia and Herzegovina by 21 July 2026; that deadline has passed.
The key to reading the ballot is to separate the levels: state contests apply across Bosnia and Herzegovina, entity contests depend on whether a voter is in the Federation or RS, and the Federation adds a cantonal assembly election. The indirect selections that follow mean the election-day ballot does not itself decide every office.
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