US INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF OPINION POLL CONDUCTED IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, June 6 (Hina) - According to the results of an opinion poll conducted among potential voters in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the American National Democratic Institute (NDI), a great number of young people and ethnic Croats have no intention of going to the polls at the coming elections in October. #L# The latest poll covered 3,700 respondents in different parts of the country. The NDI office in Sarajevo has reported that there are no considerable changes in the attitude towards political parties in comparison to the results of a previous poll conducted in February this year. The latest results show a mild decline in the popularity of the Social Democrat Party (SDP) and a mild rise in the influence of the (Muslim) Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Among Croat parties, the biggest rise in voter appeal was achieved by the party "Working For Prosperity", established two years ago by the owners of the leading food processing company "Lijanovici" in the southern town of Siroki Brijeg. Unemployment and corruption are still major problems for Bosnian citizens, according to the results of the NDI's poll. The protection of national interest of ethnic groups they belong to is of top priority for only 14 percent of the total of respondents. However, Croats seem to give more importance to this issue as 34 percent of Croats questioned in the poll say they regard that issue as most important for the coming elections. An increasing number of Muslims (Bosniaks) and Croats worry about poor service in public health and social welfare, whereas more and more Serbs say they worry about an increasing number of young people leaving Bosnia. The opinion poll shows that 80 percent of citizens of the Croat- Muslim Federation approve of recently adopted constitutional amendments, and in the other entity - the Republic of Srpska - 60 percent of citizens support them. (hina) sb ms