FACTBOX - Bosnia ahead of Oct 2 elections

According to the US-brokered Dayton peace agreement that put an end to the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, the country is divided into two entities -- the Serb Republic (mostly populated by ethnic Serbs) and the Federation (majority populated by Bosniaks and Croats), covering 49% and 51% of the country's territory, respectively. The Brcko District, functioning under a decentralised system of local government, was created in 2000, out of land from both entities to reflect its multi-ethnic nature.

The Federation and the Serb Republic have their own governments and parliaments and are linked by a weak central government. The Federation is divided into 10 cantons with their own governments and parliaments. An international overseeing body holds the supreme authority in the country.

Here are some key facts about the poll:

The three members of the Bosnian collective presidency (one Bosnian Muslim or Bosniak, one Serb, one Croat) are elected for a four-year term. Incumbents are eligible for a second term and become ineligible for the post for four years after the second term. The candidate who wins most votes in Sunday's presidential elections will become chairman of the presidency unless he or she was the incumbent chairman at the time of the election. The chairmanship rotates every eight months.

The prime minister of the central government is appointed by the presidency and confirmed by the central parliament's lower chamber, the House of Representatives.

The 42 members of the central parliament's lower chamber (28 seats allocated from the Federation and 14 seats from the Serb Republic), the 98 members of the Federation parliament's lower chamber and the 83 members of the Serb Republic parliament are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms.

The cantonal assemblies are unicameral and elected for four-year terms under a system of proportional representation.

3.3 million people aged 18 and over are eligible to vote in Bosnia, according to data from the central election commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Seventy-two political parties, 38 coalitions and 17 independent candidates have been registered for the parallel parliamentary and presidential elections.

There are 10 candidates for the Bosnian presidency.

In the previous election for members of the Bosnian presidency held in 2018, Sefik Dzaferovic of Bosniak nationalist conservative Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Zeljko Komsic of the Democratic Front (DF) and Milorad Dodik of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) were elected.

In the previous election for state-level parliament, which was also held in 2018, SDA won 25.61% of the vote for members of the national House of Representatives in the elections in the Federation entity. In the Serb Republic, SNSD won 39.04% of the vote for the state-level parliament.