97 PER CENT OF BALLOTS COUNTED IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

SARAJEVO, Nov 17 (Hina) - The Mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Friday 97 per cent of ballots have so far been counted after general elections in Bosnia- Herzegovina. In the electoral race for seats in the Bosnian Federation parliament's house of representatives, the Social Democratic Party (SDA) is in the lead with 27.3 per cent of about 834,000 counted votes. The Democratic Action Party (SDA) follows with 27.1 per cent of votes, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) with 19.4 per cent and the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina is fourth with 15.6 per cent of votes. In the race for 14 of the total of 42 seats in the state parliament reserved for MPs from the Republika Srpska entity, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) won 40.2 per cent of 606,000 counted votes. The SDS is in the lead for seats in the Republika Srpska Parliament with 36.7 per cent of votes, and the presidential candidate of the party, Mirko Separovic, has 50.5 per cent of votes so far. At the canton level the HDZ is still the strongest party in five cantons, the SDA and SDP have most votes in two cantons each, but rivalling in the Gorazde Canton. (hina) lml