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How did nationalist political parties gain influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina before the war?

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Bosnian conflict: destruction in Sarajevo — Bosnian War Buildings and vehicles destroyed in Grbavica, a suburb of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian conflict (1992–95).

Nationalist political parties gained significant influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the late 1980s and early 1990s, primarily by exploiting widespread public dissatisfaction with the failing Yugoslav economy and the existing political system.1

As the League of Communists of Yugoslavia fragmented, politicians actively manipulated nationalist sentiments to destabilize the political landscape. By 1990, three major national parties emerged to represent the country's primary ethnic communities:21
* The Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA)
* The Serb Democratic Party (SDS)
* The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)

These parties formed a tacit electoral coalition and swept the 1990 multiparty elections, securing seats in the parliament and the multiethnic presidency. While this structure was intended to prevent any single ethnic group from dominating, the parties' conflicting territorial ambitions—often fueled by powerful patrons in Belgrade and Zagreb—rendered the government ineffective and ultimately contributed to the outbreak of war in 1992.21