VOTER TURNOUT AT SLOVENE EU, NATO REFERENDUMS 56%

LJUBLJANA, March 24 (Hina) - Around 56% of 1.6 million Slovene voters took part in Sunday's referendums on membership in the European Union and NATO, and most of them voiced support for the country's admission in the two organisations. #L# After having counted 88% of ballots from the EU referendum and 95% of ballots from the NATO referendum, the state electoral commission stated that 89.66% of voters supported Slovenia's EU membership, while 11.34% were against. A significantly lower number of voters supported Slovenia's membership of NATO - 66.18% voted for, while 33.82 were against. Official incomplete results will be known on Monday evening and complete official results will be announced on April 1, after the Diaspora ballots are counted. Senior Slovene officials and most party leaders said the outcome of the votes proved the electorate's support for the official policy the country's coalition government had been implementing in the past 10-12 years, which would result in a more active foreign policy and co-decision-making in organisations gathering world democracies. As a full EU and NATO member, Slovenia would more actively participate in the integration of South-East European countries in both organisations, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said. Slovenia's admission to the EU and NATO has been opposed only by two parliamentary parties - the Party of the Slovene Youth and the Slovene National Party, while most opposition parties have welcomed referendum results. Anti-globalist non-government organisations have voiced disappointment with the referendum results. Vlasta Jelusic of the Peace Institute stated Slovenia had missed a chance to become known for anti-militarism and that by voting against NATO Slovene voters could have expressed opposition to the war in Iraq. Slovenia will be more exposed to pressures after admission, she said. (hina) rml