127,000 VOTERS CAST VOTES ABROAD

ZAGREB, Jan 7 (Hina) - Out of the total 360,110 voters in the special, 11th electoral unit, reserved for the Croatian diaspora, almost 127,000 voters turned out for January 2 and 3 parliamentary poll. There were 125,517 valid ballots cast, and most votes, 107,847, went to the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) list of candidates. This list could win about 6 seats at the Croatian National Parliament House of Representatives, the National Electoral Commission said Friday. Lists of candidates following the HDZ are those of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), the Social Democratic Party - Croatian Social Liberal Party (SDP-HSLS) coalition and the Croatian Christian Democratic Union (HKDU), but did not pass the electoral threshold. Most voters, Croatian citizens who do not have residence in Croatia, voted in Bosnia-Herzegovina -- 110,356 of them, with 109,187 valid ballots. The HDZ list won 97,723 votes in Bosnia- Herzegovina, followed by the HSP and SDP-HSLS lists. Commission member Branko Hrvatin confirmed that there had been crowds at polling stations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but without incidents or provocations. Hrvatin refused to comment on an assessment made by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by which a voter had cast a ballot in this country every seven seconds. It is true that at certain polling stations there had been a large number of voters, which was expected, considering the fact that only 29 polling stations had been opened in Bosnia-Herzegovina, he said. There were crowds, but everything had been done correctly. The voting process took two days, and polling stations, such as the one in Mostar, were opened for longer than 7pm so everybody who had been at the polling stations could have a chance to vote. Gates around the consulate were closed at 7pm, but voters who had already been on the premises voted until 9.35pm, Hrvatin said. If the number of voters is divided by the time in which they voted, we will see it is a lot more than seven seconds, he stressed. Besides, Hrvatin said, every polling station had several voting desks, so several persons could cast their ballots at the same time. Foreign observers and observers of Croatian non-government organisations followed the voting process. OSCE observers, he stressed, had been present at all 29 stations in Bosnia- Herzegovina. The National Electoral Commission so far received from the OSCE only a general complaint about the crowdedness of polling stations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is connected with the violation of the principle of the secrecy of voting. The OSCE received copies of all memoranda from all polling stations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and at their request, copies of the work of electoral committees in Yugoslavia and Germany were also submitted, Hrvatin said. He added the past elections were a precedent in the world according to the number of observers. The Commission has nothing against that, our work is transparent, Hrvatin said. (hina) lml mm