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West to Propose September Date for Bosnia’s Elections 40-Nation meeting in Florence this week will consider setting a date as a way to improve conditions for fair elections in Bosnia. By Paul Holmes ROME, June 11 (Reuters) - The United States and major European powers plan to propose a September date for post-war elections in Bosnia when ministers meet this week to assess progress on the difficult path to peace. Despite deep misgivings in some quarters about the prospects for a fair poll, diplomats say the key international players are determined that the election timetable laid down in the Dayton accords which ended Bosnia's 43-month war must be adhered to. The peace deal, struck last November, envisages national elections by September 14 as part of the drive to provide Bosnia with multi-ethnic democratic institutions in which Muslims, Croats and Serbs will cooperate. A precise date will top the agenda when foreign ministers from some 40 countries or their representatives meet in Florence, Italy, on June 13 and 14 to review compliance six months into a fragile peace in the former Yugoslav republic. President Bill Clinton, who is facing his own election in November, is anxious to avoid delays that would suggest the Dayton plan is a failure or that 20,000 American troops in Bosnia as part of a NATO-led peace force (IFOR) might have to stay beyond the end of the year. "We think that despite all the problems, establishing an early date for elections ... will happen at Florence this Thursday and Friday," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said on Monday. He acknowledged that "no one is saying that the conditions (for elections) even approach the desirable today" but said that setting a date improved the chances of creating better conditions for the elections. Any date would be subject to certification that the proper conditions exist by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), charged with overseeing polls. The OSCE's chairman-in-office, Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti, has so far resisted pressure to give the go-ahead, which Washington had hoped would come in time for Florence. Cotti, who will be at the gathering, has said that an OSCE decision may now not be made until the end of this month. "Certain minimum prerequisite conditions must be in place... so that the concepts 'free, fair and democratic' ... retain their meaning," he said last week. Worries focus on freedom of movement, media restrictions, a return of refugees and the continued presence of hardline Bosnian Serb separatist leader Radovan Karadzic. He and his army commander General Ratko Mladic have been indicted on war crimes charges by a U.N. tribunal in The Hague but have yet to be handed over, as the Dayton deal requires. "This is a disaster for further implementation of the Dayton agreement because there will be neither conditions for elections nor conditions for a stable peace before the problem of the war criminals is resolved," Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic said on Monday. While the international community has acknowledged that Karadzic's presence is incompatible with free elections, there are growing signs that voting will proceed as long as the Bosnian Serb leader stays out of public view. Postponement of polls could also mean that the NATO-led IFOR force would have to stay longer than its one-year mandate, due to expire in December. Diplomats said the future of IFOR, which has offered to help organise elections, and what comes after withdrawal of the 60,000-strong force would not be on the agenda in Florence. "I don't think anyone will really dare to discuss that if the matter of the election isn't settled," a German official said.

Berserkistan, June 8 · Special Report: In Bosnia, Skepticism over Fair Elections
Berserkistan, June 8 · Sacirbey: U.S. Applying Undue Pressure Over Elections
Berserkistan, June 8 · Sacirbey: U.S. Applying Undue Pressure On Bosnia Over Elections
Berserkistan, June 8 · EU Donates $89 Million to Bosnia while Pressing for Elections
Berserkistan, June 7 · Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Says Bosnian Elections Can Undo Dayton
Berserkistan, June 5 · Frowick Angers OSCE Staff with Spin on Elections
Berserkistan, June 4 · Major Powers: Elections Must Stay on Schedule
Berserkistan, June 3 · Voter Registration Begins in Bosnia
Berserkistan, June 2 · Bosnia’s Elections Remain on Track Despite Karadzic
Berserkistan, June 2 · Bosnia: Fair Elections, but Not at Any Price

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