SOLJIC SPEAKS ABOUT HDZ BH'S DECISION TO BOYCOTT BH ELECTION

ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - Today's decision of the Croatian Democratic Union Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BH) not to take part in the Bosnian 13 and 14 September municipal election was reached unanimously, the party's co-president and the president of the BH Federation, Vladimir Soljic, told the Croatian Television's evening news on Tuesday. Both Croat officials in the BH Federation and the whole HDZ BH leadership supported the decision, Soljic said. Explaining the party's decision, Soljic said that step by step, HDZ BH had been brought in such a position that it would lose what at a normal election it should win and that which during the war Croats paid for with blood. "Under such designs", Soljic said, HDZ BH would lose the election in Mostar as well, where the introduction of a central zone "outside (the) Dayton (peace accord)" brought the party in a position of losing the election there too. Speaking about his yesterday's talks with the head of the Bosnian mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Robert Frowick, Soljic said they tried to find a solution but, he added, OSCE saw the issue differently. "The international community has not been welldisposed to us so far, (as demonstrated) by the 'bits' of assistance we received, and by its tolerance of irregularities in the work of many of the Federation's institutions", Soljic said. He assessed the international community's reaction to HDZ BH's decision would "certainly be harsh" but, he said, the party was ready to stand everything, since it believed the participation in the election "would be below HDZ's dignity and would hurt Croat interests". Soljic ascertained HDZ BH would not alter its decision since, he said, "it is technically unfeasible to correct mistakes (made) at the expense of the Croat people." "HDZ BH will not agree to bits", he concluded. (Hina) ha 092321 MET sep 97