PETRITSCH TO DECIDE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, April 18 (Hina) - The announcement of election date for Bosnia-Herzegovina is postponed until High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch decides what measures to take following the rejection of the entity's parliament to adopt constitutional amendments in the Federation of Bosni-Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.#L# The president of the Election Commission for Bosnia, Lidija Korac said late Thursday evening that Petritsch's decision to change the provision of the permanent election law which determines that the election date should be announced no later than 170 days before elections. "That period has now been moved to 169 days which means the decision to call for elections could be announced on Friday," Korac said at a press conference that was called for 10 p.m. because it was expected that by then the disputes over the constitutional amendments in Bosnia would be resolved. Earlier today, the House of Peoples of the Bosnian Parliament adopted a bill on constitutional amendments, however, the House of Representatives rejected the bill which was to secure the implementation of an agreement on constitutional reforms concluded on March 27th. The Parliament of Republika Srpska was also on Thursday to decide on the same issue only began its session at about 9 p.m. however, the bill on constitutional amendments was not even put on the agenda. Unofficial sources said that the entity Constitutional Commission had earlier forwarded a proposal to the Office of the High Representative to change, previously adopted and proclaimed, amendments which would have brought them in line with the "Sarajevo Agreement", i.e. in line with the wishes of the international community. (hina) sp