OSCE MISSION GETS MONEY FOR CONDUCT OF BOSNIA LOCAL ELECTION

SARAJEVO, May 4 (Hina) - The OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been granted 24.5 million dollars by the OSCE Permanent Council for the conduct of municipal elections in Bosnia, called for this autumn. A spokeswoman for the mission, Tanya Domi, said in Sarajevo on Tuesday that all OSCE member-countries had previously decided that OSCE representatives should monitor the entire electoral process in Bosnia, and this increases the cost of the mission. This year the OSCE is planning to cut costs in registration of eligible voters. The process of registration is to be assumed by local authorities for the first time since the end of the war. Local authorities and staff will have been additionally trained by the OSCE, for the job. This year, municipal elections are expected to be in the beginning of November, but the final decision on the exact date will be announced in July. The implementation of results of the 1997 local vote did not run smoothly, and local authorities were established in about 80 percent of municipalities, in accordance to those results, Domi said. The critical areas like Srebrenica, a Moslem enclave overrun by Bosnian Serbs in 1995, have not yet authorities set up on line with the 1997 election results. (hina) jn ms