NATIONAL PARTIES LEAD ON ASSEMBLIES' LISTS

SARAJEVO, Sept 19 (Hina) - The three national parties convincingly lead on the lists for the election of new bodies of authority in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH), the entities and cantons in the Federation. According to Thursday data of the Sarajevo-based Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on the territory of the Federation, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) won 55.3 per cent of the vote for the Lower House of BH, while the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 23.4 per cent. The opposition Joint List for BH gained 8.4 per cent, while the Party for BH won 7.1 per cent out of a total of 1,175,525 counted votes. Out of 664,669 votes counted in the Serb entity, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) won 53.8 per cent of the vote, SDA 20.6 per cent, while the opposition Alliance for Peace and Progress won 12 per cent of the vote. In the election for the Lower House of the Federation of BH, SDA won 56.2 per cent of the vote, HDZ 22.2 per cent, while the Joint List for BH and the Party for BH gained 7 per cent each. In the elections for cantonal assemblies, SDA won the majority of the vote in Cantons 1, 3, 4, 5 and 9, while HDZ won majority in Cantons 2, 7 and 8. In the Central Bosnian Canton, the vote is almost divided between the two leading parties, SDA with 49.7 per cent of the vote and HDZ with 43.3 per cent. On election lists for the people's assembly of the Serb entity, SDS won 62.5 per cent of the vote. SDS candidate Biljana Plavsic has by far the majority of the vote for the president of the Serb entity. (hina) ha 191352 MET sep 96