KEY FACTS ABOUT CROATIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ZAGREB, June 12 (Hina) - The Croatian presidential election will be held on Sunday, June 15. The presidential candidates are Social Liberal Vlado Gotovac, the candidate of nine opposition parties; Zdravko Tomac, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); and the incumbent President, Franjo Tudjman, the candidate of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party. (The Croatian Electoral Commission announced the list of the three candidates in the alphabetical order in line with legal provisions.) The Croatian Government calls the presidential election. The President of Croatia is elected by Croatian citizens who have reached the age of 18 at direct election by secret ballot for a term of five years. The President is elected by an absolute majority vote of all the voters who have cast their ballots. Regardless of whether one or more candidates stand for the election, the President shall be elected who has collected at least 50 percent plus one vote out of the total number of voters who have voted. If none of the candidates obtained such a majority, the election shall be repeated after 14 days. Croatian ex-patriates and Croatian citizens who find themselves outside Croatia's borders at the time of the election or who live abroad, can exercise their voting rights at Croatian diplomatic and consular missions and foreign offices, except in countries whose laws forbid the voting at their territory for elections of other country. In both cases Croatian voters can cast their ballots in Croatia. According to data gathered by the Electoral Commission, Croatian citizens can vote at diplomatic and consular missions and in foreign offices at a total of 158 polling stations in 46 countries. Lists of voters are compiled for the territory of each municipality. Croatian citizens temporarily residing abroad register on these voter lists before going abroad. According to data issued by the Electoral Commission on 11 June 1997, there is a total of 4.060,312 voters on voter lists; 3.682,607 of them have permanent residence in Croatia, while 377,705 have permanent residence abroad. The voter list of Croatian citizens with permanent residence abroad is compiled in Zagreb, in volumes according to countries of their permanent residence. Lists of voters who at the time of the election have temporary residence or find themselves abroad and wish to vote there, will be compiled at Croatian diplomatic and consular missions and foreign offices. These citizens will be registered according to their place of permanent residence in Croatia. According to data by the Electoral Commission, the voting will be conducted at a total of 7,558 polling stations in Croatia and abroad. Croatian displaced persons will be able to vote at 592 polling stations; 144 polling stations are in UNTAES-controlled Croatian area. The Electoral Commission has printed 4.265,000 ballots. For voting in the Croatian Danube region, ballots have been printed in the Croatian, Serb and Hungarian languages, and in the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. The elected president of the Republic of Croatia shall assume duty on the last day of the term of the outgoing president. On the day of assuming duty, the president of the Republic of Croatia shall be sworn in before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, by which he shall undertake to respect the Constitution. The oath reads: "I swear on my honour that I will perform the duty of President of the Republic of Croatia conscientiously and responsibly for the benefit of all Croatian citizens, that I will abode by the Constitution and law and respect the legal order of the Republic of Croatia, strive to preserve the independence, existence and unity of the Republic of Croatia, and do all I can to ensure the normal functioning of all government bodies." (hina) mš ha jn 121725 MET jun 97