$ DANUBIAN AREA ZAGREB, 13 Feb (Hina) - Croatia's Vice Premier Ivica Kostovic tonight stated that Croatian political parties would have the right to unimpeded pre-election campaigning in the Croatian Danubian area.
CAMPAIGNING IN
$ DANUBIAN AREA
ZAGREB, 13 Feb (Hina) - Croatia's Vice Premier Ivica Kostovic
tonight stated that Croatian political parties would have the
right to unimpeded pre-election campaigning in the Croatian
Danubian area. #L#
'A joint implementation committee in charge of elections
will adopt rules of conduct, which will be declared obligatory
by General Klein', Kostovic said at a press conference
following tonight's working meeting with a delegation of the
Association of Croatian Displaced (ZPH).
The ZPH would call on the displaced to go to the polls in
great numbers, Kostovic said, adding that every displaced
person would be notified of the location of his or her polling
station and transported to it.
Election commissions in the Croatian Danubian area would
include local Serb representatives, Croatian displaced people
and non-Serbs, Kostovic said, adding that the displaced had
already chosen their representatives to the election
commissions. Those representatives, including members of
different nationalities, would have to be accepted by the U.N.
Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) and
the Election Commission of the Republic of Croatia.
Reiterating Croatia's guarantees that the elections would
be organized well and supervised by international
representatives, Kostovic said that the participation of the
Croatian displaced in the elections on the free territory of
Croatia would have to be confirmed by General Klein as well.
Asked about the number of voters in the Danubian area,
Kostovic said that the final number would be known after
voters' registers had been completed.
However, there are 20,000 non-Serbs in the area, or 7,000
to 9,000 Croats and some 12,000 members of other
nationalities, Kostovic said.
The Serbs whose pre-war residence was elsewhere in
Croatia would be able to chose where to vote - in towns they
used to live in before they came to the Danubian area or in
towns they are living in now. They will also be able to chose
for which of the two towns they will vote.
The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) was not registered in
Croatia and therefore cannot participate in the elections in
Croatia, Kostovic said.
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