For @Reuters Sunday's #local #elections interrupted nationalist long-rule in Sarajevo where according to @derStandardat voters "punished the ethnic thinking" by electing one mayor with "a non-Muslim name" & thus becoming "symbol of modernity."

What really happened in #Sarajevo?

Let's start with looking into what #Sarajevo is!

It is a #canton!

35 members of cantonal assembly choose a government which is in charge for #education, #health, #public #transport & some #infrastructure.

A #Croat Mario #Nenadić is cantonal Prime Minister since March 2020!

#Sarajevo Canton has #nine #municipalities.

On Sunday voters in these nine municipalities elected members of the municipal councils and mayors.

Municipalities are in charge for #urban #planning & #development, early #education, aspects of #culture & #sport.

#Sarajevo is also a #City!

Four of the nine municipalities are part of the city.

Members of the four municipal councils elect (among themselves) 28 members of the city council, which then elect a #mayor of the #City of #Sarajevo.

The city has very narrow competences!

To better understand the difference between #Sarajevo #Canton, #City & nine #municipalities have a look at their 2019 budgets!

The canton is the most important (last elections were in 2018). Then come the municipalities (elected this Sunday). And only then the City.

Voters in nine municipalities were given to choose among thirty mayoral candidates on Sunday. They casted over 160,000 valid ballots.

So has the nationalist long-rule in Sarajevo been interrupted on Sunday?

Not really!

Let's look at the municipality of #Centar Sarajevo which
@derStandardat said turned into "the symbol of modernity" after electing a mayor with "a non-Muslim name":

The incumbent Nedžad #Ajnadžić, a member of #SDA ( @EPP), lost against Srđan #Mandić #NašaStranka ( @ALDEParty).

#Mandić was born in 1972, raised and educated in Sarajevo. He is a #Serb & an economist who worked in a business sector. Since 2019 he is vice-president of #NašaStranka ( @ALDEParty) & has served as a cantonal minister from December 2018 to March 2020.

Nedžad #Ajnadžić ( #SDA, #EPP) became a municipal mayor in 2016 after beating eight other candidates & receiving 8,000 votes in total.

#Ajnadžić was the first #SDA candidate to win mayoral elections in #Centar in 20 years. Before this municipality was #SDP ( @PES_PSE) stronghold!

#Mandić is not the first mayor of #Centar with a non-Muslim name. There was #Igor Gaon (1998-2000) & #Ljubiša Marković (2000-2004).

But #Mandić did receive 16,000 votes: two times more than all other candidates in 2020 & most votes any directly elected mayor of Centar received.

How did #Mandić gather such a large support in #Centar?

#Mandić was not just a candidate of #NašaStranka but a joint candidate of a centre-left #SDP ( @PES_PSE) & #SDA's splinter parties #NiP & #NLB. The votes for the municipal council show #Mandić needed their support!

The four parties (aka četvorka #Foresome) started their campaign in December 2018 when they formed a backbone of a cantonal government without the #SDA.

Their government championed more transparency, less corruption & nepotism, and fairer distribution of public funds.

But they diverged on issues such as support for #LGBTIQ rights, when the conservative #NiP came out strongly against organisation of the first #Pride in #Sarajevo!

When #SDA managed to gather the new majority in January 2020, Ismir #Jusko, a minister who served for 13 months in #četvorka-led government, & whose party decided to go with #SDA, held an emotional speech praising the work of the outgoing government.

Do voters in #Canton #Sarajevo agree with #Jusko?

For the cantonal assembly elections in 2018 voters casted 218,000 valid ballots:

54,000 went to the #SDA.

91,000 went to the four parties in #četvorka.

In Sunday's elections for municipal councils voters casted at least 132,000 (so far counted!) valid ballots:

36,000 went to the #SDA candidates.

62,000 went to the #četvorka candidates.

Furthermore, out of 9 mayoral positions #SDA won four (minus 4 compared to 2016) & #četvorka won four as well (plus 3 compared to 2016). One mayoral position is still to close to call.

Voters in nine municipalities of #Sarajevo #Canton seem to have decided beyond traditional left and right or liberal and conservative choices, and went for those who promise to change the governance methods = transparent & fairer use of public funds and resources.

They made their decision in light of leaked tapes with #SDA officials offering jobs/money for favours & without consequences. Add to that months long public disputes in the cantonal health care system, charges over procurement of medical equipment...

Weather mayors from #četvorka will manage to bring changes they promised to their voters will not only depend on whether they will have majorities in the municipal councils but also if they will manage to form a new cantonal government. Something many claim will happen soon!