- Title: GERMANY: BOSNIANS ABROAD VOTE IN ELECTIONS.
- Date: 28th August 1996
- Summary: NEAR BONN AND BERLIN, GERMANY (AUGUST 28 AND 29, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) NEAR BONN, GERMANY (AUGUST 29, 1996) 1. SV: INTERIOR OF ELECTION DEPOT 0.05 2. MV: WOMEN OPENING LETTERS 0.12 3. GV: MEN TAKING ENVELOPES OUT OF BOXES AND STAMPING THEM 0.20 4. MCU: ENVELOPES GOING THROUGH FRANKING MACHINE TO CHECK THAT EACH VOTER HAS ONLY CAST ONE VOTE (5 SHOTS) 0.41 5. MV: MAN SORTING ENVELOPES 0.48 6. MCU: ORGANISATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE (OSCE) SPOKESMAN JENS GRIMM SAYING WE THINK IT'S A SHAME THAT SOME PARTIES ARE CALLING FOR A BOYCOTT. WE BELIEVE THESE ELECTIONS ARE BOTH IMPORTANT AND FAIR AND WE DON'T BELIEVE ANY POLITICAL SOLUTION WILL BE ARRIVED AT MORE EASILY THROUGH A BOYCOTT. (GERMAN) 1.04 7. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF ELECTION DEPOT (4 SHOTS) 1.29 BERLIN, GERMANY (AUGUST 28, 1996) 8. GV/CU: INTERIORS OF BOSNIAN SOCIAL CLUB 'GOLDEN LILLIES'/ PLAYING DOMINOES (3 SHOTS) 1.44 9. MV: MALCIC MEHMED FROM MODRICE SAYING, 'THE BOYCOTT COULD NOT BE AVOIDED, BECAUSE PEOPLE WANT FREE ELECTIONS AND WANT TO GO HOME. IF THEY (BOSNIANS) WERE ABLE TO RETURN TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY, THEN THIS BOYCOTT WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED AND THE ELECTIONS WOULD HAVE BEEN HELD. (SERBO-CROAT) 2.06 10. MV: POSTER 2.11 11. MV: DIJANA COSEVIC SAYING, 'THE SDA'S CALL FOR A BOYCOTT IS CORRECT. AS YOU KNOW WE DON'T ALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE. MANY BOSNIANS ARE NOT ON THE SO-CALLED ELECTORAL REGISTER, AS THEY HAVE BEEN DISPLACED SINCE THE ELECTIONS IN 1991. THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT ABLE TO VOTE IN THESE ELECTIONS (SERBO-CROAT) (2 SHOTS) 2.33 14. GV: WIDE VIEW OF SOCIAL CLUB 2.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 12th September 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEAR BONN AND BERLIN, GERMANY
- City:
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVADDLWKRLBFQSQWRV0W22ALHINC
- Story Text: INTRO: The international organisation overseeing Bosnia's first post-war general election has appealed to refugees in Germany to ignore calls to boycott the poll.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Jens Grimm, spokesman for the election bureau in Bonn for The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said on Thursday (August 29) it was a shame that some parties were calling for a boycott.
"We believe these elections are both important and fair and we don't believe any political solution will be arrived at more easily through a boycott," Grimm told Reuters at the OSCE's depot for postal votes.
The depot, at a location in western Germany kept secret for security reasons, has been set up to collect and scan the ballot papers of the 130,000 Bosnians who have registered for a postal vote ahead of the September 14 elections.
The bar-coded envelopes containing the ballot papers are put through a special franking machine to ensure that voters have only cast one ballot. They are then sealed and sent to Sarajevo.
The boycott call was led by the Moslem nationalist Party of Democratic Action (SDA), which is headed by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic. They urged refugees living abroad not to cast ballots until voter registration irregularities have been resolved.
A total of 132,850 Bosnians living in Germany have registered for a postal vote, but many feel that the forthcoming elections will not be free and fair.
Malcic Mehmed from Modrice said the boycott could not be avoided because people want free elections and they want to return home.
The boycoot would not have happened if the Bosnians were allowed to go home, he said.
Dijana Cosevic, a Bosnian refugee living in Berlin said she saw SDA's call for a boycott as justified. "The SDA's call for a boycott is correct... we don't all have the right to vote as many Bosnians are not on the electoral register." Germany has taken in around 320,000 Bosnian refugees -- more than any other country outside the former Yugoslavia.
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