(CNN) -- The recent general election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina suggest the country is still mired in political deadlock and ethnic rivalry.
The political stalemate -- ethnic Serbs backed nationalists urging secession --means that the country's tripartite presidency remains split over the country's future.
The result is likely to delay economic recovery and European Union membership, according to Balkan analysts.
It is 15 years since the Dayton Accord which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war in which an estimated 100,000 people died according to the U.N.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, a small state of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), ethnic Croats and ethnic Serbs, has a population of 4.6 million according to the CIA World Factbook and is still under international administration.
A good example of the cultural and religious divisions found in the country can be seen in the ancient city of Mostar, made infamous by Stari Most, its 16th century stone bridge.
Mostar was the scene of intense fighting between Croats from the western side of the Neretva river and Muslims on the east during the war.
Croat nationalists destroyed the bridge, originally built in 1566 when Mostar was under Turkish Ottoman rule, by shelling it in 1993. Its reconstruction and reopening in 2004 was supposed to be a step towards the rebuilding not only of destroyed ancient structures but also cultural divisions.
But 15 years after the peace deal, many buildings still lie derelict and there remain deep ethnic divisions in the former Yugoslav republic.
CNN
