OSCE TO ENSURE HOLDING OF ELECTIONS IN FULL SECRECY

SARAJEVO, Aug 19 (Hina) - Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)'s director in charge of elections Jeff Fischer on Monday said that the special OSCE operative headquarters were discussing ways of organizing the elections for voters who were to cross the border between entities on election day and vote in municipalities from which they had been exiled. Two possibilities were being discussed - in places which were believed to be critical polling stations would be set up on the border line itself, but on the territory of the Bosnian Federation, Fischer said. The other possibility is to organize transport for voters to polling stations by busses. The final decision would depend on the assessment of security on the field, Fischer said. He warned that the local electoral commissions had orders to ensure that the elections be held in strict secrecy. Voters will vote in separate spots and will not be allowed to fill out the lists in larger groups. After voting every voter will dip a finger into invisible ink which remains on the finger for 24 hours and can only be discovered by a special detector. Thus, there will be no possibility of filling out several lists by one person. This was not something new, it was practiced in numerous countries, especially in Latin America, Fischer said. The exact number of registered voters is still not known, but the OSCE headquarters in Sarajevo estimate that the number is some 2.9 million people. Some 850,000 of them live abroad. (hina) lm mm 191423 MET aug 96