Bosnian city of Mostar goes to polls after 12 years of deadlock

City has been divided on ethnic lines leading to vital services not functioning

Polls have opened in the city of Mostar in the first local elections in 12 years following a dispute between parties representing the city's two main ethnic groups that paralysed municipal institutions for more than a decade.

The city of 100,000, known for its picturesque Ottoman architecture, became one of the symbols of the devastating conflict in Bosnia in the 1990s, when its famous stone bridge was destroyed. The bridge was reconstructed in the early 2000s, but the city remains divided along largely ethnic lines. Since the end of the conflict, the west side of the city is mostly populated by Croats, and the east side by Bosniaks.