B-H ELECTIONS BRING MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN STATE PRESIDENCY

( Editorial: --> 3257 ) SARAJEVO, Sept 26 (Hina) - The general election in Bosnia- Herzegovina has resulted in significant changes on the country's political scene as it has shown that the influence of nationalist forces is weakening, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission head Robert Barry told reporters in Sarajevo on Friday. Barry stated this presenting the results of the general election which took place on September 12 and 13. Out of 2,656,758 registered voters, 1,879,339 have participated in the vote, which makes a 70.7 per cent turnout. High Representative Carlos Westendorp said that the most important result of the elections was the fact that Momcilo Krajisnik would no longer be a member of the state presidency, which, in his opinion, would speed up the implementation of the peace agreement. As was expected, the Muslim and Croat candidates for the state presidency, Alija Izetbegovic and Ante Jelavic, won the elections by gaining the confidence of 511,309 and 189,408 voters respectively. The second runner up for the Muslim member of the state presidency is Fikret Abdic, who won just above 36,000 votes while another Croat candidate, Gradimir Gojer, gained about 114,000 votes. There was much more uncertainty about the outcome of the race between Momcilo Krajisnik and Zivko Radisic, the main rivals in the election for the Serb member of the state presidency. Radisic, candidate of the coalition "Sloga" (Unity) won 360,286 votes while Krajisnik won 315,480. According to sources from the Provisional Election Commission, what tipped the scales to Radisic's advantage were refugee votes, which means that part of the Muslim electorate voted for him. Biljana Plavsic, the incumbent president of the Bosnian Serb entity, won 286,914 votes while the Radical Party leader Nikola Poplasen won 324,033 votes. The decisive role in the race between Plavsic and Poplasen was played by the Bosnian Party (BOSS) president Zulfo Nisic, who won 107,037 Muslim votes, without which Plavsic could not win. The Coalition for an Integral and Democratic Bosnia-Herzegovina (CD Coalition) won the most votes in the race for seats in the state parliament - 455,403. The Coalition is followed by the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), which won 187,152 votes and the Social-Democratic Party (SDP, 137,990 votes). The New Croat Initiative (NHI) and the Social-Democratic Party, led by Selim Beslagic, won 28,000 votes each, while other parties gained much less votes. The above mentioned parties won almost the same number of votes for the Federation Parliament. The Serb coalition "Sloga" won 214,000 votes for the state parliament while the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) won 163,000 and Poplasen's Radical Party 119,000. The SDS won 161,000 votes in the elections for the Republika Srpska Parliament, Radicals won 97,000, Radisic's Socialists 79,000, Plavsic's Serb Democratic Alliance won 95,000 and Milorad Dodik's Social-Democrats won 54,000 votes. The CD Coalition will have an important role in the Bosnian Serb parliament with 125,000 votes. The coalition is followed by the SDP, HDZ BiH and the NHI. The elections on the cantonal level saw the victory of the CD Coalition in the Una-Sana, Tuzla-Podrinje, Zenica-Doboj, Gorazde and Central Bosnia Cantons. The HDZ BiH gained the most votes in Posavina, Herzegovina-Neretva, Western Herzegovina and Herzeg-Bosnia Cantons. The CD Coalition also won the most votes in Sarajevo, followed by SDP, HDZ BiH and NHI. The NHI won the election only in the municipal council of Usora. The Provisional Election Commission now has to confirm the results after which it will decide on the number of seats won by individual parties. According to the B-H Constitution, the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples should be constituted within a period of 30 day following the official announcement of results. The deadline for the Federation is 20 and for cantons ten days. (hina) rml 261148 MET sep 98