TURNOUT AT BOSNIAN CROAT REFERENDUM 85 PER CENT SO FAR

MOSTAR, Nov 12 (Hina) - According to information from more than a half polling stations, more than 85 per cent of Bosnian Croats voted in a referendum in Bosnia-Herzegovina Saturday, chairman of the referendum commission, Josip Muselimovic, told Hina Sunday afternoon. The referendum, initiated by the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) and associated political parties, took place on the same day of general elections in the country. Croats voted on a declaration on the rights and position of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina adopted by the Croat national council on October 28. The declaration envisages, among other things, the creation of Croat institutions on the overall territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the administrative and territorial reorganisation of the country. Muselimovic said an overwhelming number of Croat voters had opted for the declaration. HDZ BiH leaders have dismissed accusations by Croat opposition parties that the referendum had a hidden agenda of creating a third entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The party's president, Ante Jelavic has said several times the Bosnian Croat people were voting through the referendum for their equality with the other two constitutive peoples in the country -- Bosniaks and Serbs. International representatives in the country have asserted the referendum had violated the electoral rule on media ban by its being organised on the same day of the general elections. (hina) lml