Nationalists top Bosnia-Herzegovina's divisive election

Bosnian officials reported a record-low turnout following the Sunday vote, with only 41.5% out of the country's 3.4 million voters taking part in the general election in Bosnia-Herzegovina .

Nationalist parties dominated races as citizens chose officials across multiple tiers of government; including members of the country's multiethnic, tripartite presidency.

With counting nearly concluded, Serb nationalist Zeljka ​Cvijanovic, Bosniak moderate leftist Denis Becirovic and Croat nationalist ‌Darijana ​Filipovic have been announced as the winners of the presidential seats of their respective ethnicities.

Cvijanovic had been backed by the Republika Srpska's former secessionist leader ​ Milorad Dodik , who was barred from holding public office for six years after being convicted of defying the top international envoy overseeing the 1995 peace process.

"I am declaring that we have won," Dodik told supporters in Banja Luka on Sunday night. He said his SNSD party had retained the Serb seat in the presidency and remained power in Republika Srpska.

With counting nearly over, Cvijanovic looked to have won with 55.6% of the vote.

Social Democrat Becirovic won the race for the Bosniak seat with 38.1% of the vote, while Croat Filipovic took 48.2% of the vote.

Voters also chose lawmakers for the federal parliament and the heads of institutions for the country's two largely autonomous entities — the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Serb-run Republika Srpska (RS).