THE international self congratulation over the fact that the Bosnian election took place relatively peacefully is finished. There will be no political honeymoon.
The election, as expected, of three hardline nationalists to Bosnia's presidency has focused attention on the difficulties ahead. The three leaders who fought a bloody war with each other are now expected to meet within a week, and begin to decide issues by consensus.
Today, the international High Representative, Mr Carl Bildt, will announce a series of legislative measures to be considered by the new presidency and assembly of Bosnia Herzegovina. They include the agreement of a budget and other basic items.
Presidential decisions must be unanimous - otherwise the issues are referred to a constitutional court for arbitration. It is a recipe for political gridlock, but perhaps the only way to run such a divided state. The difficulty of the task of building power sharing structures is illustrated by a brief look at the respective CVs of the three members of the presidency:
. The Serb, Mr Momcilo Krajisnik, is an extreme nationalist, fierce opponent of the Dayton accord, close ally of Dr Radovan Karadzic and is considered lucky not to have been indicted, like Dr Karadzic, by the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
. The Croat, Mr Kresimir Zubak, is a Croat nationalist former lawyer and judge. He is considered a moderate nationalist - although that is a relative term within his separatist HDZ party. He was president of the self styled Croat mini state in Bosnia during the war, Herceg Bosnia.
. The Muslim, Mr Alija Izetbegovic, is often seen as providing the greatest hope, because before and during the war he preached the notion of a multi cultural state. However, he is also a nationalist, a devout Muslim, and his party's commitment to multiculturalism has waned considerably during the war. He is the outgoing president of Bosnia Herzegovina.
Mr Bildt said the powersharing institutions will only work if those operating them choose to make them work. It is difficult to see the three above gentlemen providing an early success in that task.
The international image of the "free, fair and democratic" nature of the election took a knock yesterday as well.
The OSCE appointed head of international monitoring said he would not characterise the election as "free, fair and democratic" at all.
But he gave an honest statement of what the election was really about. The elections were, he said, "a conflict resolution instrument".
Their success will be judged not by normal standards of democracy, but by whether the structures established after them will lead to continuing peace and the integrity of the Bosnian state.