PROVISIONAL ELECTION COMMISSION OFFICIALLY CONFIRMS REGULARITY OF BH ELECTIONS

BH ELECTIONS SARAJEVO, Sept 29 (Hina) - The OSCE Mission's Provisional Election Commission in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday officially confirmed the regularity of the Bosnian 14 September elections. With this decision all elected candidates gained the right to start with their activities, the Commission's president Robert Frowick told a press conference in Sarajevo. He said that the date for the holding of municipal elections had not been decided. "The decision on the confirmation of the elections is based on all objective evidence, including the results, their verification as well as decisions on complaints", Frowick said, adding that from the start it had been obvious that the Bosnian elections could not satisfy the standards which would be valid in democratic countries. Frowick pointed out the lack of freedom of movement, pooling or a politically neutral environment as requested by the Dayton Agreement as the biggest shortcomings of the preparations for the elections. The fact that war crimes suspects, including Radovan Karadzic, had been prevented from taking part in the elections was extremely important, Frowick said. He took all responsibility for mistakes which had occurred during the counting of the votes. Asked whether he would resign, Frowick said that there was no reason to do so. He also said that the elections had fulfilled the obligations requested by the peace agreement, however without describing them as free, fair or democratic. Frowick's deputy Kenneth Scott said that the basic goal of the OSCE Mission had been to support the democratization process, adding that these elections were a step forward. Commission member John Reed said that the elections represented a big experiment. "For the first time the elections in a country had to serve as an instrument to solve a conflict and therefore they couldn't be perfect. However, their holding brought significant changes within the structures of power in this country and this is extremely important", Reed said. (hina) ha 292152 MET sep 96