ALBRIGHT AGREES WITH OSCE ASSESSMENT OF CROATIA ELECTIONS

WASHINGTON, June 17 (Hina) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, on Monday agreed with OSCE monitors' description of the Croatian presidential elections that the elections were free but failed to enable candidates to have equal coverage by media. "We are concerned about the fact that there was not enough possibility for the opposition party to be able to practice its ability to be part of the election process," Albright said. A spokesman for the State Department, Nicholas Burns, said that the way how the pre-election campaign had been carried out would not help Croatia. It did not meet the minimum standards for democracies, Burns added saying that last week President Tudjman had got 4008 seconds on Croatian Television (HTV), whereas an opposition candidate was limited to 16 seconds. This gave an indication of the control the government had over the national media, he said. (hina) jn mš 171311 MET jun 97