OSCE SAYS RULES FOR ELECTION OF B-H PRESIDENCY MEMBERS TO REMAIN

( Editorial: --> 6990 ) SARAJEVO, April 15 (Hina) - Head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Robert Barry, on Wednesday said completion of the rules and regulations for the carrying out of elections in the country should be expected in the next few weeks. But he told a press conference in Sarajevo there would not be any changes to the way members of the Bosnian Presidency were to be elected. This issue was regulated by the Dayton agreement, Barry said. This means that these rules cannot be changed by a Provisional Election Commission (PEC) decision. It is our estimation that the rules and regulations for the election of members of the Bosnia- Herzegovina Presidency have to be the same as they were in 1996, Barry said. He recalled that this would mean the Croat and Bosniak (Muslim) members of the Presidency would be chosen from the Croat-Muslim Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Serb member from the Bosnian Serb republic, and that each voter would have the chance to vote for only one candidate. The PEC - which recently named two new members from the Bosnian Serb entity at the request of Premier Milorad Dodik's government - has up to now passed minor changes to the election rules and regulations. These include decisions on candidate lists which must assign at least three women in the top 10 places, and that political parties registering for the first time need to deliver their political platforms and give a certain monetary deposit. A decision has also been made to prohibit the OSCE from partially financing party campaigns, which it had done up to now. (Hina) mm mb /lm 151900 MET apr 98