OSCE HEAD CRITICISES HRT FOR UNEQUAL TREATMENT OF BOSNIAN PARTIES

( Editorial: --> 5147 ) LIVNO, Aug 21 (Hina) - OSCE representatives on Friday held talks with Herzeg-Bosnian Canton officials about activities for the upcoming elections. A delegation of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) headed by Mission Chief Robert Barry visited Livno (southwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina) on Friday. The OSCE representatives held talks with senior officials of the Herzeg-Bosnian Canton, Canton Assembly and government, as well as party representatives. The talks focused on balancing the promotion of all parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina during their electoral campaigns and enabling them equal representation in electronic media, Barry told reporters after the closed meeting. The general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina are scheduled for September this year. Barry forwarded a harsh criticism to the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) for unequal treatment and different presentation of Bosnia-Herzegovina parties. By August 23, the HRT must equalise the representation of parties in its programmes, and by August 26, conduct a drawing to select a schedule according to which parties will be presented to voters. If the HRT fails to do this, the Electoral Complaints Commission will take over the case. The Commission has the authority to erase candidates from their lists, Barry said. In that case, it will be the HDZ's (Croatian Democratic Union) candidates for senior posts, chairwoman of the Media Experts Commission, Tanya Domi said. (hina) lml 212002 MET aug 98