OVER 46,000 BOSNIANS VOTE IN CROATIA OVER WEEKEND

ZAGREB, Sept 15 (Hina) - A total of 46,559 Bosnian citizens cast absentee ballots at 78 polling stations in Croatia on September 13 and 14 to elect local governments in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Croatian Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees said in a statement on Monday. Four polling stations, three in Zagreb and one in Knin, remained opened past the 19.00 hours deadline until 20.30 hours because of a large number of voters waiting in line. Voter turnout was 79.88 per cent. Sixty-three polling stations were open from 7.00 to 19.00 hours on Saturday and 60 on Sunday. The polling stations were operated by 359 members of polling committees and 70 OSCE supervisors. The voting process was overseen by 94 OSCE monitors. Of the total number of 60,134 registered voters in Croatia, 1,855 people did not vote because no elections had been called for their municipalities, according to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Elections were not called in 30 Bosnian municipalities. Some voters who voted and were registered in Croatia had not been included in the final list of voters. The highest voter turnout was recorded in Zagreb, where 10,996 people cast their ballots at 10 polling stations, and in Slavonski Brod, where 8,604 voters were registered at three polling stations. No incidents were reported during the voting process. However, some voters had to wait for their ballots because the OSCE delivered missing ballots only on Sunday morning. In some cases the process was slowed down due to mistakes in the final voter list. The polling station in Knin was opened at 13.00 hours on Saturday due to missing ballots, which were subsequently delivered by the OSCE, the statement said. (hina) vm 151102 MET sep 97