SARAJEVO, June 7 (Hina) - According to a survey conducted by the US National Democratic Institute for International Relations (NDI), 22 percent of Bosnian Croat citizens do not intend to vote in a general election on October
5.
SARAJEVO, June 7 (Hina) - According to a survey conducted by the US
National Democratic Institute for International Relations (NDI),
22 percent of Bosnian Croat citizens do not intend to vote in a
general election on October 5. #L#
Presenting the results of the poll conducted in May among 3,700
respondents, NDI Bosnia department head Michael Balagus said in
Sarajevo that Croats and young people between the ages of 18 and 30
were the least interested in going to the polls.
Most other respondents said they would participate in the
elections.
As many as 82 percent of respondents said they intended to vote,
however, Balagus believes the turnout will be somewhat lower,
despite the importance of the upcoming vote.
As many as 66 percent of the interviewees said they would vote for
the party, i.e. politician, which would be able to improve the
quality of their living conditions, a response given by all ethnic
groups.
The strengthening of the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina is a priority
for 28 percent of interviewed Bosniaks; 12 percent of Serbs want to
see Republika Srpska strengthened, while 24 percent of Croats
consider the protection of their vital national interests
important.
The rating of political parties has not changed much in relation to
February, when a similar poll showed that the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) was the strongest party on the state level and in the
Croat-Muslim entity, while the Serb Democratic Party (SDS),
established by Radovan Karadzic, was convincingly leading in
Republika Srpska.
Between 30 and 36 percent of Serb respondents said they would vote
for the SDS candidate for the Serb member of the state presidency,
while the candidates of the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) or
the Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNDS) would win only 11-
13 percent of votes.
Bosnian Croat respondents still predominantly support the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ), and 52-58 percent of the Croat electorate
would support the party's candidate for the Croat member of the
state presidency.
Rivals from the SDP or the New Croat Initiative (NHI) could not
count on more than nine percent of votes.
Up to 31 percent of Bosniaks would vote for the SDP's joint
presidency candidate and up to 28 percent would vote for the SDA
candidate.
However, these responses do not correlate with the rating of
individual politicians.
Haris Silajdzic is the most popular politician in the Croat-Muslim
entity, although his party ranks only third, with 14-17 percent of
votes.
Kresimir Zubak has the best individual rating among Croat
politicians, while HDZ president Barisa Colak has almost twice less
votes.
The most popular politician among Bosnian Serbs is entity premier
Mladen Ivanic, followed by entity president Mirko Sarovic.
The survey also shows that the SDP enjoys the biggest support of the
electorate in the parliamentary elections.
Fourteen percent of voters would support the party's candidates,
the SDS and SDA candidates would receive 12 percent of votes each,
while the HDZ candidates would win seven percent of votes.
According to available NDI surveys, one should not expect any major
changes in the current correlation of political forces, both at the
entity and state levels.
(hina) rml sb