ZUBAK EXPECTS SIGNIFICANT CHANGES OF ELECTION RULES IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, June 7 (Hina) - It was real to expect from a new electoral law for Bosnia-Herzegovina to bring significant changes, said the leader of the New Croatian Initiative (NHI), Kresimir Zubak, on Monday. He expected that changes would be primarily in the way of electing bodies of authorities at the state level. Zubak told a news conference in Sarajevo that the first draft bill on the matter might appear by 25 June. It's certain the bill will provide for a possibility that voters in entire Bosnia-Herzegovina elect all three members of the collective Presidency and members of the House of Representatives in the Bosnian Parliament, he added. According to the current rules, Bosniak (Moslem) and Croat members of the Presidency are elected on grounds of votes in the Croat- Moslem Federation, whereas the Serb member is elected on grounds of votes in the other Bosnian entity (Republic of Srpska). A similar rule is in effect for elections of MPs in the state parliament. Zubak announced a meeting for July in Sarajevo of representatives of all Bosnia Croat political parties, cultural institutions and dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church who should discuss strategic interests of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The NHI accepted to come at the meeting on condition that it would be convened by Ante Jelavic in his capacity of a member of Bosnia's Presidency rather than in his capacity of a leader of the HDZ BiH political party. Zubak confirmed that he had recently held a meeting with Jelavic, but denied allegations of the Sarajevo media that those talks were secret. The NHI President, a one-time senior official of the HDZ BiH, also rejected any possibility of establishing closer ties between the NHI and the HDZ. He told reporters that his party had proposed that Bosnia be the host of a conference for signing the pact on stability in south- eastern Europe and that Sarajevo be the centre of a institution which will conduct this agreement. (hina) ms