LEJLA WILL REPRESENT CROATIA AT MISS WORLD CONTEST AFTER ALL

ZAGREB, Oct 27 (Hina) - The dethroned 1998 Miss Croatia, 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. Miss Croatia 1998, Ivana Petkovic, would represent Croatia in 1999. The suggestion to solve the problem that occurred by annulling the election results in this manner was made by the owner of the Miss World licence, Eric Morley, and both girls agreed to it. Twenty-two-year-old Sehovic, who comes from the southern Croatian port city 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, the director of the Miss Croatia licence Milan Seckovic anulled Sehovic's election due to inaccuracies in the voting of some members of the panel of judges. At the suggestion of Eric Morley, 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. Morley on Tuesday forwarded a letter to the director of Miss the Croatia pageant and Lejla Sehovic's attorney, requesting that Lejla's arrival at preparations in France and at the Miss World pageant in the Seychelles be confirmed by Tuesday. In his letter, Morley said it did not matter whether Lejla Sehovic considered herself a legally elected Miss Croatia. He stressed that, as he recalled it, Lejla had been elected to represent Croatia at this year's Miss World pageant. Lejla has accepted the invitation, her attorney, Vesna Alaburic, said Tuesday night. (hina) lml jn