CROATS TO GO TO 7,558 POLLING STATIONS AT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

ZAGREB, June 11 (Hina) - There would be a total of 7,558 polling stations in Croatia and abroad for the June 15 Croatian presidential election, and voters' rolls contained names of 4,060,312 voters, said the president of the national Electoral Commission, Ivan Mrkonjic, on Wednesday. For the elections, 4,265,000 ballots have been issued. According to a report by the Administration Ministry, there are 3,682,607 eligible voters whose place of residence is in Croatia, whereas 377,705 Croatian citizens who can cast their ballots live abroad. These citizens can vote at diplomatic and consular missions and foreign offices at a total of 158 polling stations in 46 countries. Most of such polling stations are in Germany where there will be 34 stations, whereas 20 will be in Australia, 19 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 16 in Canada, and, for example, 10 in the United States. Croatian citizens who live in countries where no polling stations for this purpose will be opened, can cast their ballots at the polls in some other countries, so that Croatian citizens in a total of 71 countries will be able to vote. Mrkonjic told Wednesday's news conference he hoped that a larger number of Croatian citizens abroad would go to the polls for this presidential election than it was the case at 1995 parliamentary election when about 120,000 of them cast their ballots. Concerning the fact that there are 4,060,312 eligible voters the Commission printed 4,265,000 ballots, or about 5.percent more than the number of voters. Saying that a moderate number of ballots has been printed, Mrkonjic dismissed every insinuation about possible misuse, and added that the previous estimation about issuing five million ballots had been based on the estimation that there might be about eight thousand polling stations. Croatian displaced persons can cast their ballots at 592 polling stations, whereas there will be 144 polling stations in the UNTAES- controlled area. For the voting in the Croatian Danube river area, ballots are printed in the Croatian, Serb and Hungarian languages and in the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets. UNTAES members will secure polling stations, committees and election material, whereas one member of the Transitional Police will be at each polling station. Mrkonjic voiced hope that residents of the Danube river area would go to the polls. He said there was no reason for local authorities, established following the April municipal elections, not to create all prerequisites for the coming election. (hina) jn mš 111945 MET jun 97