Moderate Bosniak candidate leads in race for presidency seat

By Trend

Moderate Bosniak candidate Denis Becirevic is leading in the run-up for the seat on Bosnia's tripartite inter-ethnic presidency, preliminary results based on a partial vote count showed on Monday, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Becirevic, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) member who was backed by 11 opposition civic-oriented parties, won 55.78% of the votes over Bakir Izetbegovic, whose nationalist Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of the Democratic Action (SDA) party has been in power since the end of the war in 1996.

Izetbegovic, who according to the election commission won 39.31% of the votes, conceded defeat late on Sunday.

Bosnia's voters turned out to choose the country's new collective presidency and lawmakers at national, regional and local levels, in a contest between entrenched nationalists and economy-focused reformists.