MOSTAR: ORUCEVIC ELECTED MAYOR, TOMIC DEPUTY MAYOR

MOSTAR, May 22 (Hina) - The Mostar City Council elected Safet Orucevic mayor and Neven Tomic his deputy at its constituent session on Monday. Tomic was a Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) candidate and until recently a deputy chairman of the Bosnia- Herzegovina Council of Ministers. The two newly-elected officials will hold their posts for the next six months, after which they are to exchange their offices. According to the city's transitional statute, Bosniak and Croat candidates exchange the posts of mayor and deputy mayor every year. Tomic said the new authority had to act as one in order to make Mostar a prosperous city. "The HDZ will in the coming period confirm that it wants Mostar and Bosnia-Herzegovina," Tomic said, adding he would support the "establishment of the municipal system", regular operation of all administrative bodies, and the policy of attracting foreign investments. The new mayor called on newly-elected councillors to contribute to normalising the situation in the city. According to the result of the April local election, most seats in the City Assembly were won by the Coalition for an Integral and Democratic Bosnia-Herzegovina (16); HDZ won 11 seats and the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina (SDP BiH) won three seats. (hina) rml