Bosnia Gets a Non-Nationalist Government

Parliament’s ouster Thursday of Muslim, Croatian and Serbian hard-liners gave Bosnia its first non-nationalist central government in more than 10 years.

The new government, which was expected to receive strong backing from the international community sponsoring Bosnia-Herzegovina’s fledgling democracy, was elected primarily by deputies of the multiethnic, reformist Alliance for Change.

Twenty-two of the 35 deputies present at the session of the 42-seat house voted for the new government. The deputies represent Bosnia’s two autonomous entities, the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb republic.

The central government has a limited role--the entities have their own parliaments, governments, military and police--but Western governments want it strengthened in some areas.

Since Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, the West has poured billions of dollars into the Balkan nation to resurrect its economy, but reforms have lagged behind schedule, mainly because of political bickering among nationalists.

Wolfgang Petritsch, the international community’s high representative, praised the formation of the new government, saying he hoped it would “break with the policies of the past and lead Bosnia actively and decisively into a better future.”

The new government consists of ethnic Croat Bozo Matic, who has the rotating post of chairman for the next eight months, and five ministers and their deputies from 10 parties and all three ethnic groups--Muslims, Croats and Serbs.

Matic, 63, is a manager in the engineering conglomerate Energo invest and a professor at Sarajevo University.