HUNGARIAN CROATS EXPECT MORE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENTS AFTER ELECTIONS

ELECTIONS ( Editorial: --> 8769 ) BUDAPEST, Oct 15 (Hina) - The representatives of the Croatian minority in Hungary expect the Hungarian local elections which will take place on October 18 will grant them a major share in local authority. Almost 90,000 Hungarian Croats will vote on Sunday for local minority self-governments, which are the component parts of the Hungarian government and have the possibility of participating in reaching decisions on local level on issues relative to minorities, namely education, culture, preserving the national identity, etc. The President of the Croatian National Minority Self-Government, Mija Karagic, said that Croats had 57 local self-governments over the past four years. It is expected the upcoming local elections will give enough votes to establish 75 Croatian local self- government minorities, which would be a great progress. It is interesting that 14 minority self-governments will be established in Budapest. A total of 375 members of the Croatian national community in Hungary will ran for various functions in local self-governments. (hina) it jn/ha 152142 MET oct 98