REFUGEES DISSAPOINTED ABOUT OSCE DECISION TO LET P-2 FORM BE USED IN VOTE

IN VOTE TUZLA, Dec 8 (Hina) - Annoyed with announcements by the OSCE mission chief in Bosnia, Robert Frowick, that the controversial P-2 Form might be used in forthcoming Bosnian municipal vote, refugees from areas of Podrinje, Posavina and Semberija (northeastern Bosnia) said they would stage protest rallies if the OSCE decision was not be changed, the Tuzla-based office for the return of refugees reported on Sunday. Refugees do not believe that elections may be fair if they are to be held with the P-2 Form for registering voters, regardless of its recent changes. The P-2 form enabled voters to register for the vote in a municipality they wanted to live, instead of the municipality they had lived before the war. The municipal elections, previously scheduled for last September, were delayed, due to lack of freedom of movement and the overt mishandling of voter registration in the Serb entity where tens of thousands of Serbs registered to vote in municipalities from which Moslems and Croats had been expelled during ethnic cleansing. The most drastic such cases were recorded in the strategic Brcko (northeastern Bosnia) and Zvornik and Srebrenica (eastern Bosnia). At the request of the Moslem side this autumn, OSCE mission chief Robert Frowick gave written assurances that Form P-2, which enables the legalization of results of ethnic cleansing, would no longer be used. This provoked an open anger on the Serb side which threatened that it would not allow an extension of the OSCE mandate. However, Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic had to give up such views after intensive international pressure. Her decision on the matter was announced last Sunday by Frowick, but at the same he said that the possibility of registering for elections by Form P-2 remained in force. Frowick tried to downplay the negative aspects of this decision, saying that the use of Form P-2 would be regulated by clearly defined rules. People applying for the vote by Form P-2 would have to prove their place of residence and each application would be decided upon by the electoral appeals subcommission. The refugees in the Tuzla area said in Sunday's statement that "there are no important changes in the P-2 Form. Frowick's explanation about new conditions of voting in new places of residence is controversial and creates possibilities of many manipulations. Serb entity authorities will ensure sufficient number of falsified documents which the OSCE will not be able to check." They also announced that they would demand resignations of many OSCE high officials in Bosnia, if the recent decision was not be changed. (hina) mš 081300 MET dec 96