Nationalist leader Milorad Dodik is leading in the race for the Serb seat of Bosnia-Herzegovina's three-member presidency. His victory is a blow to the fragile unity of the country created after the brutal civil war.
Official preliminary results have not yet been announced, but Dodik claims that he won 56 percent of the vote with his opponent Mladen Ivanic taking 44 percent.
"This is victory as clean as a whistle and I proclaim this victory," Dodik said. His opponent's party, however, said that the vote was still too close to call.
Should Dodik's victory be confirmed, he will share the post with a Muslim and a Croat.
The Bosnian Muslim party SDA declared victory for their candidate, Safik Dzaferovic. The Croat seat will go to Social Democrat Zeljko Komsic, who unseated incumbent Dragan Covic from the nationalist right.
More than half of the country's 3.3 million eligible voters cast their ballots on Sunday, according to election officials who described the voting as "extremely fair," although there were several reported incidents.
Concerns over Serb separatist
All eyes were on the race for the Serb seat of Bosnia-Herzegovina's presidency, with many fearing Dodik's win could deepen ethnic tensions in a country that faced a brutal war around 25 years ago.
Dodik, the longtime leader of the Serb-majority Republika Srpska region, is known for his pro-Russia stance. He has previously threatened to hold a vote on the eventual separation of Bosnian Serbs from the country.
On the campaign trail, he frequently claimed that Bosnia-Herzegovina was "not a state" and that the capital Sarajevo was in "foreign territory."
He was blacklisted by the United States last year for threatening Bosnia-Herzegovina's integrity.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's complex governing system was created by a 1995 peace accord that ended the 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people. The agreement also stipulated that Bosnia be split into two entities — the predominantly Serbian Republika Srpska region and another area that is home to Muslims and a Croat minority.
Remembering the disappeared in Bosnia
People all over the world go missing every day, be it in war or for political reasons. Z.B. survived a massacre during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. To this day, he is still searching for his family members.
Image: Armin Smailovic
Joint burials
Around 500 people gathered for a collective funeral at a stadium in Prijedor in July, before burying the remains of their family members in local cemeteries. This time, the bodies of 23 people had been identified. The youngest victim was 18 and the oldest 72. The remains of three people from the village of Zecovi were also buried.
Image: Armin Smailovic
Helping others
"More than 20 years have passed and I am still waiting to bury my mother, my brothers and my sister. The longer I wait to find them, the harder it becomes for me and my family. The waiting is killing us," said Z.B. The remains of his neighbor were found in the nearby city of Prijedor. Z.B. also helped at the burial.
Image: Armin Smailovic
Everybody wants reconciliation
Z.B.'s phone rings day and night. "I am responsible for organizing the ceremony. The less time I have to think, the easier it is for me," he said. This year, representatives from different ethnic groups will attend the burial. "This is a large step for this city. This is what life together is about; this is the reconciliation that we all want."
Image: Armin Smailovic
Remembering the lost
His youngest son, who is 7 years old, visited the exhibition "Guilty of Nothing" by the painter Mensur Beslagic of Bosnia-Herzegovinia. To the left is a portrait of Z.B.'s cousin, who was only 6 when she was murdered.
Image: Armin Smailovic
The only survivor
Z.B. was the only one to survive the Zecovi Massacre on July 25, 1992. He was 14 years old when Serbian forces killed 29 women and children. Among them were his mother, two brothers, a sister and other relatives. His Serbian neighbor hid him for eight days. Later, he went to Germany with his father and a brother but returned in 2000.
Image: Armin Smailovic
Pictures as a reminder
The picture to the left shows his mother and sisters and the one to the right, his brothers. They are all still considered to be missing. "I got the picture from a friend in the village. Otherwise, I have nothing. That's all that's left - just this picture and the memories."
Image: Armin Smailovic
Difficulties identifying the dead
The remains of the 2,325 people who were murdered in the region were found in 450 different places. Often, the bodies of those murdered are found several kilometers away from the place they lived. This makes cross-border cooperation necessary for identification and prosecution purposes. The remains and personal belongings are kept in a mortuary in Sanski Most.
Image: Armin Smailovic
Very little left
Governments have also gotten involved in the exhumation process. Until recently, family members of victims, like Z.B., searched in desperation for the missing persons and went digging on their own.
Image: Armin Smailovic
Disrupted childhood
"When I go for walks here, I recall my brutal childhood that was disrupted by violence," said Z.B. at a lake near Prijedor.
