Did he use martial law? That was the point :)
You said "martial law and legal loopholes". Legal loopholes are used all the time, including by Putin himself. And as I already mentioned, there had simply been very few chances to actually declare martial law in post-WW2 European history.
My Bosnian friends would disagree.
While fighting took place in Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia were calm. At no point was the entirety of Yugoslavia an active warzone like Ukraine is today.
Regarding the political leaders of Bosnia and Croatia: those states broke away from Yugoslavia and then the war broke out pretty much right away. Hence, their political leadership didn't face term limits or elections yet while their (new) countries were at war.