Who is the winner of the local elections in Mostar, in many ways historic ones, primarily due to the fact that they were held after 12 years of stagnation, could not be determined yesterday.

According to incomplete and unofficial data after the local elections in Mostar, and based on more than 90 percent of counted ballots, the Coalition for Mostar 2020, consisting of SDA, SBB, DF, SB&H and BPS, has a secure 12 seats in the Mostar City Council, which consists of 35 councilors.

Diaspora votes

The BH bloc, that is, the SDP and Naša stranka, for now, have five mandates. HDZ B&H has 13 seats, HRS three, and one belongs to the "Stay Here" list of SNSD and SDS.

Šerif Špago, the Coalition's coordinator, told us that these five political entities had achieved their goal of, among other things, making a major contribution so that, ultimately, the pro-Bosnian bloc would have the necessary majority in the Mostar City Council.

- At the moment, we are only not sure that the BH bloc in the West City Area will have a councilor, but votes from the diaspora will decide there. So, the Coalition for Mostar has two thirds in that pro-Bosnian part of the councilors and, although it could have been better, we are still satisfied with that result - Špago told us.

Among the numerous calculations during yesterday, it was stated that the pro-Bosnian bloc could have 19 mandates with the votes of the diaspora, but also that a stalemate could follow in the future City Council of Mostar.

It is in this calculation that the "disputed" mandate in the West City Area, which the BH bloc is seriously counting on and where the Coalition for Mostar did not have its own list, was included in the HDZ B&H.

In that way, there would be 17 hands in the bloc with the Croatian sign, together with the HRS, as many as the pro-Bosnian bloc would have, and the remaining mandate of a total of 35 belonged to the Serbian list.

New blockades

In such a balance of power, the 18th hand is important for the election of a mayor who, let us recall, is chosen from among the elected councilors. The mayor is elected by a two-thirds majority in the first two rounds of voting, and if that does not happen, in the third round, a majority of more than half, ie 18 councilors, is sufficient. Therefore, the question of whether new blockades will follow in Mostar dominated yesterday as well.

Professor of constitutional law Nurko Pobrić told us that he does not believe that a third option, along with HDZ B&H and the Coalition for Mostar, will have its own candidates for mayor, although he does not rule out that possibility.

- It is difficult to predict whether there will be any political trade, it is possible, as are blockades. But when you take into account the fact that elections have not been held for so long, then blockades should not happen. The City Council and the mayor should be elected, but also the Statute of the City should be harmonized with the decisions of the Constitutional Court of B&H. Everything else is irrational and would not be politically correct - said prof. Pobrić.

HDZ: Stolen votes

Špago referred to the accusations from the HNS and HDZ B&H about election engineering before and after the election process, saying that there are competent bodies for that, such as the CEC.

Thus, yesterday, the HDZ B&H stated that "overnight, after the polls closed, thousands of votes were stolen in predominantly Croatian constituencies."

After yesterday's session, the CEC announced that a new counting of votes would follow at about 70 polling stations out of a total of 150 regular ones, at the request of the City Election Commission.