OSCE ELIMINATES NINE CANDIDATES OF LEADING PARTIES IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, July 18 (Hina) - Nine candidates of the ruling party in Bosnia-Herzegovina have been removed from lists for the upcoming municipal elections in the country because of irregularities with the registration of voters which had been uncovered by observers of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). #L# OSCE mission spokesman David Foley said in Sarajevo on Friday that the electoral Appeals Subcommission had reached a decision about penalties for political parties which had out up their candidates in Bosanski Brod, Jajce, Stolac and Zepce. The list of candidates of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) is now missing the first two candidates because local authorities had registered a greater number of voters, based on false documents. Because of the same violation of electoral rules, the list of candidates of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Jajce has been relieved of the first three candidates. The same party in Stolac was punished by the elimination of the second and third candidates from the list because a large number of forged certificates on Bosnian citizenship had been issued. The second and third candidates from the list of candidates of the Democratic Action Party (SDA) in Zepce had been erased. An OSCE probe established that the SDA had attempted to organise the registration of about 1,500 people to vote in Zepce, although they lived in Maglaj and Doboj. The Electoral Appellate Subcommission established that political parties had in all the above cases organised the registration of voters who had never lived in these municipalities, which was intended to affect the results of the elections. Because of similar violations of electoral rules and regulations, OSCE had so far revoked the right to vote of 39 persons in different parts of Bosnia, mostly for fraud from the part of the SDS. (hina) lm mm 181605 MET jul 97