BELGRADE, October 4. /TASS/. Bosnia and Herzegovina will hold general elections.

More than 3.4 million registered voters will elect a new Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament), and legislative bodies in the country’s two entities. The Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entities, will also elect its president.

Polling stations will open at 7:00 a.m. local time (6:00 a.m. GMT) and close at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT). For the first time in the country’s general elections, biometric voter identification, ballot scanners and a system for the rapid transmission of results will be used. According to the Central Election Commission, about 30,000 observers will monitor the voting, most of them at the municipal level. The pre-election silence period, which began on the morning of October 3, will last until the polls close.

A total of 75 political parties, 29 coalitions and four independent candidates will compete for seats in government bodies at various levels. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of representatives of Bosniaks (Slavic Muslims), Serbs and Croats, who are directly elected simultaneously for four-year terms. The Croat and Bosniak members are elected in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the country’s entities, while the Serb member is elected in the Republika Srpska. Decisions are made by consensus, with each of the three members having veto power. The chairmanship rotates among the three members every eight months.