ELECTORAL COMMISSION AWAITS BOSNIA'S ANSWER ON OUT-OF-COUNTRY VOTE

ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Hina) - The National Electoral Commission has to date received the approval of 47 countries for the organisation of the January 24 presidential election on their territory. The Commission is still waiting for Bosnia-Herzegovina's answer, and should it be positive, the Commission will in a short period prepare what is necessary for the organisation of out-of-country voting in that country. The Commission has established 117 polling stations for out-of- country voting and appointed some 700 members of voters' committees. The largest number of polling stations will be opened in Australia (20) and Germany (18). According to a Commission member Branko Hrvatin, ballots have already reached overseas countries and are being sent to European countries. The presidential election will be monitored by approximately the same number of monitors as the recent parliamentary election. It is estimated that some 6,000 observers from seven domestic non- government organisations will be monitoring the elections. The approval to monitor the elections has been granted to the GONG (Organised Election Monitoring By Citizens), Croatian Helsinki Committee, Croatian Legal Centre, Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights from Osijek, the civil committee "Return Home", Zagreb's Human Rights Committee and the Dalmatian Solidarity Committee. Some 500 foreign monitors, mostly from the OSCE and European Mission, are expected to attend the elections. (hina) rml