OSCE CHAIRMAN WORRIED ABOUT IRREGULARITIES IN REGISTRATION OF VOTE

VOTE $ RS SARAJEVO, 24 Aug (Hina) - The president of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Swiss foreign minister Flavio Cotti, issued a statement demanding that urgent measures be taken in order to prevent irregularities which occurred during the process of registration of voters for the September general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina. #L# The statement, issued in Bern and publicized this morning by the OSCE mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said that Cotti was extremely worried about reports from Sarajevo warning that serious violations of the election procedure had occurred during the registration of voters. Those violations of the registration procedure could prevent the elections on the municipal level, the statement said. The statement stressed the example of drastic manipulation of voters in Brcko, Srebrenica, Zvornik, Doboj and Foca where, 'according to current circumstances, it is very unlikely that the elections could be held'. Cotti called on the Temporary Election Commission to take urgent measures and correct those irregularities. He reiterated his concern about the lack of necessary freedom of movement and expressed hope that refugees and displaced people would be allowed to visit the towns they used to live in before the war and vote there. (hina) rm 241145 MET aug 96