SARAJEVO, 14 Dec (Hina) - Municipal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be implemented on the basis of regulations from the Dayton peace agreement, stated Robert Frowick, head of the mission of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia. The general rule envisaged that all persons, refugees included, could vote in places where they had permanent residence in 1991. However, no one could be denied the right of free choice and all persons had to be allowed to ask to vote in a municipality different than the one they lived in before the war, Frowick told a press conference on Saturday, confirming indirectly that P-2 form, the illegal use of which caused the postponement of municipal elections, would be legalized again.
SARAJEVO, 14 Dec (Hina) - Municipal elections in Bosnia and
Herzegovina would be implemented on the basis of regulations from
the Dayton peace agreement, stated Robert Frowick, head of the
mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) in Bosnia.
The general rule envisaged that all persons, refugees included,
could vote in places where they had permanent residence in 1991.
However, no one could be denied the right of free choice and all
persons had to be allowed to ask to vote in a municipality
different than the one they lived in before the war, Frowick told a
press conference on Saturday, confirming indirectly that P-2 form,
the illegal use of which caused the postponement of municipal
elections, would be legalized again. #L#
The procedure complied completely with the Dayton agreement,
Frowick said, adding that arguments of all sides in Bosnia had to
be respected.
On 30 November, OSCE representatives and Bosnian Serb
President Biljana Plavsic signed a document entitled 'Memorandum on
Understanding' which was never publicized, but it is supposed to
contain concessions the Serb side demanded in exchange for their
approval of the organisation and supervision of the municipal
elections by OSCE.
The document had not been made public because it did not have
legal validity. Legally valid would be only those regulations
reached by the Temporary Election Commission, OSCE spokesman David
Foley said.
Frowick confirmed that talks with the Serb side also included
the status of Croatian Serb refugees who arrived in Bosnia after
the liberation of occupied Croatian territories last summer.
Frowick could not confirm that there was mass pressure to allow
Croatian Serb refugees to take part in Bosnia's municipal
elections. However, the issue was being discussed, he said.
A precondition for their participation in the municipal
elections was the solution of the problem of citizenship of those
persons, which was exclusively under the jurisdiction of the
Bosnian House of Representatives, Frowick said, adding he hoped
that the issue would be discussed in the coming period.
Frowick said he was convinced that municipal elections in
Bosnia would be implemented without technical difficulties which
accompanied the elections for state and entity bodies of authority
in September this year.
The optimal time for the implementation of municipal elections
was June 1997, Frowick said.
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