Secret Deal Reportedly Struck With Bosnian Serbs

The group organizing voting in Bosnia has struck a secret deal with Serbs on rules for next year’s municipal elections, officials said Thursday.

The deal made by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, was criticized by the Bosnian government and an international watchdog agency as prone to the abuses that marred September’s national elections.

Bosnian Serbs agreed Saturday to let the OSCE conduct next year’s municipal elections in their half of the country. But the Serbian concession was based on a memorandum of understanding on voter registration not made available to the press, other international agencies or the Bosnian government.

A copy obtained by Reuters shows that the OSCE agreed to allow Serbian refugees to vote where they want by indicating some intent to live in that area in the future.

The same process was used by the Serbs in September to engineer a higher vote in contentious areas such as Srebrenica and Brcko, a disputed town whose ownership is due to be decided by arbitration.

Ethnic separatists hope to steer votes into contested areas to ensure they dominate local authorities and can prevent Bosnia-Herzegovina’s ethnic re-integration.