CROATIAN COUNTY PREFECTS DISCUSS PREPARATIONS FOR ELECTIONS

ZAGREB, Jan 27 (Hina) - Croatia's strategic interest and chief goal is the completion of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area, and in connection with this, the holding of elections on March 16 and the end of the UNTAES mandate on 15 July this year, Croatia's Premier Zlatko Matesa said at a session of the board of Croatian County Prefects. Prefects held the 5th session in Zagreb on Monday, under the chairmanship of a Croatian Vice Premier, Ljerka Mintas-Hodak. The session revolved round the preparation for the forthcoming local elections and the restoration of Croatian rule in the Danubian area. A Croatian Vice Premier, Ivica Kostovic, said that displaced persons would be able to go to the polls in more than 45 places in all Croatian counties. He said those polling stations would be monitored by officials of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He said that members of the Serb ethnic community, settled in the Croatian Danubian area prior to the beginning of the UNTAES mandate, could choose to vote for either local bodies of authorities in areas of their 1991 residence or for local bodies of authorities in the Danubian area. Kostovic added that the Croatian Government had accepted a time-frame of realization of the peaceful reintegration. He stressed that it was most important in the coming days that a number of Croatian policemen in the Transitional Police in the area should be increased and that roads and railways open. (hina) mm mš 271933 MET jan 97