Mayor in Jail Wins Local Elections in Bosnia

The mayor of the Bosnian town of Trnovo, who is under arrest due to criminal proceedings against him, won the local elections. It is now unclear how he will be able to perform his duties.

This was reported by Klix.ba.

The mayor of the Trnovo municipality, Ibro Berilo, and three of his associates were detained on 5 August, a month before the start of the election campaign, on charges of abuse of office, namely for creating privileges for investors-developers.

Despite his arrest, Berilo did not want to resign his mandate and decided to run for election anyway, which turned out to be not prohibited by law. The party supported him. As a result, the mayor won a landslide victory.  

Now it is unclear how to resolve the dilemma: on the one hand, Berilo is the newly elected mayor, and on the other hand, he is under arrest, which was extended for two months on 5 September. It is likely that the deputy mayor will be entrusted with the duties of the mayor for the time being.

Local elections were held in Bosnia on Sunday 6 October. Voting took place everywhere except in communities affected by catastrophic floods. For the first time, the elections were held with non-standard ‘open’ voting places.