Voting started on Sunday in Bosnia's forth post-war local elections which are expected to confirm the dominance of the ruling nationalists.

Polling stations opened at 7am (5am GMT) and were due to close twelve hours later.

Some three million Bosnians are eligible to elect 140 mayors, as well as local councils in 148 municipalities and in the northern Brcko district.

The elections are likely to have the lowest turnout yet due to widespread apathy among voters further deepened by the campaign marked by widespread nationalistic rhetoric and an almost absolute neglect for the issues of local interest.

Since the 1992-1995 war Bosnia consists of two semi-independent entities — the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbs' Republika Srpska. The two share weak central institutions while each has its own government and police.

No relevant survey on the elections outcome has been published, but the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), led by unchallenged Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, is expected to claim victory in Republika Srpska.

Analysts expect Muslim nationalist Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Party for Bosnia-Hercegovina (SBIH), led by Muslim member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency Haris Silajdzic, to triumph in Muslim-dominated parts of the country.

They also predict that the nationalist Croat parties — the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) and the HDZ 1990 — will share power in areas where Croats have a majority.

AFP