ZAGREB, Feb 17 (Hina) - Although the turnout at Sunday's by-elections for ethnic minorities' councils was much lower than expected, the justice ministry finds it encouraging that more than half the number of all such councils have
been elected given that those were the first such elections in Croatia, Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Feb 17 (Hina) - Although the turnout at Sunday's by-elections
for ethnic minorities' councils was much lower than expected, the
justice ministry finds it encouraging that more than half the number
of all such councils have been elected given that those were the first
such elections in Croatia, Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said on
Tuesday.#L#
During talks with the OSCE high commissioner for ethnic minorities,
Rolf Ekeus, and the chief of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Peter
Semneby, Skare-Ozbolt stressed the need for the elected councils to do
their job so that ethnic minorities could see the importance of
councils protecting their rights and in the future turn out at the
polls in greater numbers.
For that purpose the government will financially and politically
support the councils' work, the minister said.
She also said Croatia was making sure that ethnic minorities were
politically engaged through their councils as well as through their
guaranteed representation in parliament, which she added was a rare
representation model in Europe.
(Hina) ha sb