OSCE AD-HOC COMMISSION DEFINES RULES FOR BOSNIA ELECTIONS

SARAJEVO, Feb 23 (Hina) - An ad-hoc polling commission appointed by the OSCE mision to Bosnia-Herzegovina has defined the rules of procedure for the elections which are to be held before the end of September. "This is an important step foward in the efforts to maintain peace," the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission chief Robert Frowick told a news conference in Sarajevo today. "The representatives of the Republic and Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Serb Republic who helped create these rules have done a great job - they have drafted a balanced document which will promote the successful implementation of the peace process," Frowick said. He warned that the final decision to call the election, which rests with the OSCE chairman, depended on important social and political changes the Dayton Agreement insisted on. "The most urgent thing is to implement the peace agreement," Frowick said. "This depends on a change of attitude, particularly in western Mostar and at Pale, whose representatives have attempted to hinder the peace process." According to the rules defined by the ad-hoc polling commission, elections are first to be held at the local level (municipal and county). They will be followed by parliamentary elections (for the Federal House of Representatives, the Parliament of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the National Assembly of the Serb Republic) and presidential elections (for the three-member Bosnian Presidency and the President of the Serb Republic). All legislative bodies and municipal councils will be constituted proportionally, while the president of the Serb Republic and the three-member presidency of the Republic of Bosnia- Herzegovina would be elected by direct poll. The ad-hoc commission is to publish electoral rolls made on the basis of the 1991 census by March 31. About 900,000 voters who are refugees in foreign countries will also have the opportunity to vote. Under the Dayton Agreement, the Republic of Bosnia- Herzegovina is comprised of two entities: the Croat-Moslem Federation and the Serb Republic. (hina) as 231929 MET feb 96