OSCE: ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA CAN BEGIN

( Editorial: --> 9522 ) SARAJEVO, Sept 10 (Hina) - All preparations for the general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina have been completed and the elections are expected to be successful, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission head Robert Barry said on Thursday. The B-H elections are a huge logistical operation which includes 2,700 international supervisors, Barry told reporters in Sarajevo. Ten million ballots will be transported to 2,650 polling stations, of which 2,189 are in the country. The polling stations will open on Saturday at 7am and close at 7pm while on Sunday they will be open from 7am to 4pm. Barry said he expected a high turnout with about 70-80% of registered voters to the polls. During a previously completed procedure, the OSCE registered 1,995,311 B-H citizens eligible to vote. Barry said the first results would start coming in on Tuesday, but the final results would not arrive earlier than seven to ten days from the elections. This year's pre-election campaigning was much better than previous campaigns and the media had a balanced approach in covering the activities of all parties and candidates, thanks to supervision by the OSCE, Barry said. Greater efforts were made in organising this year's elections so better results are expected as well, said Austria's Ambassador to Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, whose country is chairing the European Union. The election process is also significant to Bosnia's efforts to become closer to the European Union, which this year earmarked DM 10 million for that purpose. The media blackout for all electronic media in Bosnia-Herzegovina goes into force at midnight on Thursday, OSCE spokeswoman Nicole Szulc said. (hina) rml 101737 MET sep 98