CRO GOVERNMENT: LOCAL ELECTIONS CONDUCTED ORDERLY

ZAGREB, May 22 (Hina) - Local elections were conducted in an orderly manner, and problems occurred only in the polling of displaced citizens of Vukovar, Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic informed other government members on Tuesday.#L# Turnover at Sunday's polls for bodies of municipal, town and county administrations was 46.85 percent, or 1.8 million voters went to the polls. Granic described it as a good turnover for a local election. In two weeks, the polls should be held again at three polling stations: Marija Gorica (Zagreb County), Kraljevica (Primorje- Gorski Kotar County) and Matulje (Istria County). Granic called on newly-elected councillors and political parties to begin constituting new bodies of local authority very soon. As of 10 June the Government will start constituting county assemblies. The biggest failure during last Sunday's ballot was the fact that 1,500 displaced Vukovarians were not able to cast their votes, the minister in charge of war veterans, Ivica Pancic, complained adding that he himself was thus prevented to vote. He said a lack of correct information led to confusion at some polling stations, and for instance members of some Vukovar families could go to the polls in Zagreb while others had to vote in Vukovar. Minister in charge of small businesses, Zeljko Pecek, believed the outcome of the election for local authorities in Vukovar would have been quite different if 1,500 displaced Vukovarians could have voted. However, the law and procedure in this case were not breached and it was not within the Government's jurisdiction to decide whether to call again the election for authorities of that eastern town, Prime Minister Ivica Racan said. It is the duty of the State Electoral Commission to establish whether there is a legal basis for repeating the ballot for Vukovar, Racan added. (hina) ms