 |
48 Parties, 33 Independents Register for Bosnia’s Elections
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, June 23 (AP) -- Forty-eight parties and 33 independent candidates have registered for Bosnia’s elections, an international monitoring group said Friday. "It is very encouraging that so many parties have entered the elections," said Sir Kenneth Scott, a senior official of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is organizing the election. "This will ensure that the voters have the widest possible choice of who should govern them in the future," he said.
The U.S.-brokered peace accord that ended the war in Bosnia calls for holding elections by Sept. 14.
Bosnia’s electoral commission rejected two parties that tried to register because their names were identical to parties that had applied earlier, the OSCE said in a report on the elections. The rejected parties have three days to appeal the ruling. A third party only collected 200 signatures, enough to enter municipal elections, and was rejected for all other levels, which require more, the report said.
The ruling Muslim Party of Democratic Action has been registered throughout the country, including in Serb-held areas, OSCE officials said.
The Serbs’ and Croats’ main parties -- the Serbian Democratic Party, and Croatian Democratic Union -- are also registered.
Halid Genjac, a member of the ruling party’s executive board, said he expected that in formerly Muslim-majority regions, Muslim voters would unseat the current Serb leadership. But he warned of continuing tensions that could threaten a fair vote. "Those who insist that the elections should take place in such bad conditions, should be held responsible to ensure reality on the ground after the elections," Genjac said.
The United States has pushed hard in recent weeks to keep to the election deadline, which would make it more likely that most U.S. troops could leave Bosnia by December, as President Clinton has pledged. However, human rights groups have urged that the elections be postponed because Bosnians cannot travel inside the country or speak freely, and because war crimes suspects still lead Bosnia’s Serbs. |
Berserkistan, June 21 · September 14 Elections Move Closer to Reality
Berserkistan, June 14 · Some 60 Political Parties Register for September Vote
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved