CROAT REPRESENTATIVE REFUSES TO CERTIFY ELECTION RESULTS FOR MOSTAR

MOSTAR $ MOSTAR, Oct 10 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party of Bosnia-Herzegovina said on Friday it had won 32,500 votes at the municipal elections for the Mostar City Council, while the Coalition for Unified and Democratic Bosnia-Herzegovina had won 20,500 votes. In view of these results, the HDZ said it was not understandable how it had gained only 10 seats in the council and the Coalition, parties led by the Bosniak-dominated Party of Democratic Action (SDA), 14 seats. Because of such inconsistency, the Croat representative on the Provisional Electoral Commission had refused on Friday to certify the official electoral results for Mostar. The HDZ said that it had won a majority of seats in all three councils in the town's districts with a majority Croat population. According to an official in the HDZ electoral commission, such an illogical electoral outcome in Mostar was the result of special electoral rules for the city, in which the proportional representation system had not been used as it had in all other municipalities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. (hina) lm 102217 MET oct 97