BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA: INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS DECLARE THEMSELVES HAPPY WITH BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.

Record ID: 647317

  • Title: BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA: INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS DECLARE THEMSELVES HAPPY WITH BOSNIAN ELECTIONS.
  • Date: 6th October 2002
  • Summary: (U7) PALE, BOSNIA (OCTOBER 5, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/MV: ROBERT BIKROFT, HEAD OF OSCE MISSION, VISITING POLLING STATION (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BIKROFT SAYING "I can say that the OSCE is very proud to have been involved in six elections but to see that this one is being so capably handled by the citizens of Bosnia themselves It is the right message to the international community that Bosnia is more and more standing on its own feet. (CUTAWAY) "It's the right message to the international community that Bosnia Herzegovina is standing on it's own two feet." (3 SHOTS) 0.40 3. MV: BIKROFT SHAKING HANDS WITH ELECTION OFFICIALS 0.45 (U7) SARAJEVO, BOSNIA (OCTOBER 5, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 4. GV: WIDE OF POLLING STATION AT CLOSING 0.50 5. MV/GV: WOMAN TAPING CLOSED BALLOT BOX (2 SHOTS) 1.05 6. MV: POLLING STATION BEING DISMANTLED (2 SHOTS) 1.19 7. GV/CU: COUNTING CENTRE - VARIOUS OF BALLOT PAPERS BEING PREPARED FOR COUNTING (4 SHOTS) 1.55 (U7) PALE, BOSNIA (OCTOBER 5, 20020 (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. MV/CU: TWO MEN TIPPING OUT CONTENTS OF BALLOT BOX (3 SHOTS) 2.20 (U7) SARAJEVO, BOSNIA (OCTOBER 5, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF ELECTION OFFICIALS PREPARING FOR VOTE COUNTING (4 SHOTS) 2.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SARAJEVO AND PALE, BOSNIA
  • Country: Bosnia
  • Reuters ID: LVA78UYK5N18GFBCN40NIPXVPELI
  • Story Text: The polls have closed in the Bosnia-Herzegovina
    elections seen as a make-or-break choice between
    Western-leaning reformists trying to bury ethnic division and
    old-style nationalists.



    Peace envoys view the presidential and parliamentary
    polls as Bosnia's best chance to move towards Europe and
    prosperity before international patience, aid and attention
    dwindle away.

    "The OSCE is very proud to have been involved in six
    elections but to see that this one is being so capably handled
    by the citizens of Bosnia themselves It is the right message
    to the international community that Bosnia is more and more
    standing on its own feet" OSCE Head of Mission Robert Bikroft
    told journalists after visiting a polling station in Pale on
    Saturday evening (October 5)
    Muslims, Serbs and Croats filed into polling stations in
    the capital Sarajevo, whose siege by Serb forces epitomised
    the 1992-1995 war that set neighbour against neighbour and
    left open wounds among the ethnic groups.

    The winners of the poll will rule for four years rather
    than two in previous elections, a key extension intended to
    help them kick-start the economy and make government work.

    By then the international community, which runs much of
    Bosnia behind the scenes and has injected $5 billion since the
    guns fell silent, expects Bosnia to stand alone.

    These are Bosnia's first polls run without Western help
    and will determine if reformists can sustain or improve a
    delicate balance of power that let them eject the big
    nationalist parties from power at the state level after the
    last elections in 2000.

    That will be crucial since nationalists, particularly
    Serbs, have scotched efforts to forge strong common
    institutions and a single economic space needed to attract
    trade and investment, and qualify Bosnia for talks to join the
    wealthy European Union.

    No major incidents were reported by the time polls closed.

    Preliminary results were due late on Sunday, and meanwhile
    parties scrambled to prepare their own forecasts overnight to
    start what analysts and diplomats say may well be months of
    horse-trading in power and patronage to build ruling
    coalitions.

    Voters chose deputies for the Bosnian state parliament
    that sits above the parliaments of the country's post-war Serb
    and Muslim-Croat halves. They also picked three multi-ethnic
    state presidency members, a Serb president and assemblies for
    10 cantons.

    It was a bewildering choice among 57 parties and more than
    7,500 candidates. But new equality laws will guarantee truly
    multi-ethnic governments at all levels.

    (nc/us)

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