CROATIA'S ROMA UNHAPPY WITH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

ZAGREB, Dec 3 (Hina) - The Council of Croatian Roma Associations (VRUH) complained on Wednesday that some big parties, by manipulating and blackmailing Roma, had taken their votes and prevented them from having a representative in the Croatian parliament. #L# The head of the Association of Roma in Zagreb, Alija Mesic, said at a press conference that representatives of big parties had visited Roma settlements before and on election day and told Roma who to vote for or else they would not receive welfare allowances or have their homes connected to the electricity grid. "We reported these cases of intimidation and blackmail to the (non- governmental election monitoring organisation) GONG, but it did not respond," Mesic. Asked to provide examples, Mesic said that Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) activists offered Roma in the Medjimurje village of Kusanec money and welfare benefits if they came to power in exchange for their votes. Unknown persons threatened Roma in Ogulin they would destroy their houses and expel them unless they voted for their candidates, he added. Mesic said that according to the 2000 population census, there were 9,463 Roma in Croatia. He said that the VRUH would not support Nikola Mak, the elected representative of the Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Russia, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vlach and Jewish minorities, because he had not contacted them either before or after the elections, nor had he shown any interest in Roma's problems. The VRUH, an umbrella organisation representing 28 Roma associations, summarised its dissatisfaction with the elections in a protest letter to the president and government of Croatia, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Legal Centre for Human Rights. (hina) vm sb