DETHRONED MISS CROATIA TO ATTEND WORLD CONTEST AFTER ALL?

ZAGREB, Oct 27 (Hina) - It seems the dethroned Miss Croatia 1998, Lejla Sehovic, who was proclaimed first runner-up at a repeated Miss Croatia vote session on Sunday, will go to the Miss World contest as the representative of Croatia after all. The director of the Miss Croatia licence, Milan Seckovic, proposed to Eric Morley, owner of the Miss World licence, that Croatia be represented at the Miss World contest by the first Miss Croatia 1998 runner-up, Sehovic. Miss Croatia 1998, Ivana Petkovic, would represent Croatia in 1999, Seckovic said in a statement. Petkovic and her father fully agreed with the proposal, said Seckovic. Twenty-two-year-old Sehovic, who comes from the southern Croatian port of Dubrovnik, won this year's contest for Miss Croatia, held in Opatija on October 11. Petkovic was the first runner-up. Several days later, Seckovic told a press conference Sehovic's election was annulled due to inaccuracies in the voting of some members of the jury. On Morley's proposal, the contest was repeated on October 25, and 17-year-old Petkovic was proclaimed as the new Miss Croatia, with Sehovic as the first runner-up. Sehovic refused to hand over the traditional Miss Croatia crown to Petkovic, claiming the entire contest had been set up, and that the Miss Croatia title was taken away from her because she is Muslim. Vesna Alaburic, Sehovic's lawyer, said on Monday that her client had decided to attend the Miss World contest, however only as the legal Miss Croatia, not as the first runner-up. Alaburic also announced a final compromise should be achieved on Tuesday at a meeting with Seckovic. Sehovic's lawyer confirmed that Seckovic's new proposal was in truth one of the possibilities suggested by Eric Morley. The other was that Croatia would not take part at this year's Miss World contest. (hina) it jn/ha