I loved my first trip to the Balkans for this story on national elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I must say, though, that I have never encountered as complicated and byzantine a political system as the one in this country of about four million people. Needless to say, this was a very hard story for me.
Luckily, I did manage to have some fun. I rode to Tuzla with some activists from Sarajevo for a big Get-Out-The-Vote concert by Dubioza Kolektiv, a very popular and extremely awesome Bosnian band. In the weeks before the elections, the band crisscrossed the country holding concerts to motivate young Bosnians to go to the polls. Young Bosnians were definitely way more enthusiastic about Dubioza than any of the politicians. The band’s concerts drew many, many more people than any of the political rallies.
Alas, voter turnout was only slightly higher than it was four years ago, which indicated that voters were still fairly disillusioned about their choice in leaders.
Here’s a shot from Dubioza Kolektiv’s show in Tuzla (grumpy security guard notwithstanding):
