CROATIA/BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA: OSCE DELIVERS BALLOT BOXES TO REGIONAL CENTRES OF BOSNIA AHEAD OF LOCAL ELCTIONS.

Record ID: 647521

  • Title: CROATIA/BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA: OSCE DELIVERS BALLOT BOXES TO REGIONAL CENTRES OF BOSNIA AHEAD OF LOCAL ELCTIONS.
  • Date: 28th August 1996
  • Summary: ZAGREB, CROATIA / SARAJEVO AND TUZLA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (AUGUST 28, 1996/ RECENT) (RTV/RTV (A) - ACCESS ALL) ZAGREB, CROATIA (AUGUST 23, 1996) 1. GV: EXTERIOR CROATIAN COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES 0.05 2. MV: HEAD OF CROATIAN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES DAMIR ZORIC SHOWING BALLOT BOX AND BALLOT PAPERS AND SAYING VOTES WILL NOT BE COUNTED AT POLLING STATIONS IN CROATIA. ONCE THEY ARE FILLED, BOXES WILL BE SEALED AND TRANSPORTED WITH SECURITY MEASURES FIRST TO ZAGREB AND THEN TO SARAJEVO (SERBO-CROAT) 0.30 3. GV: VARIOUS OF BOSNIAN REFUGEES IN CAMP (5 SHOTS) 0.52 SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (AUGUST 28, 1996) (RTV (A) - ACCESS ALL) 4. MCU: LEADER HARIS SILAJDZIC SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 1.53 SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (AUGUST 28, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 5. GV/MV: IMPLEMENTATION FORCE (IFOR) TRUCKS AT WAREHOUSE/ SOLDIERS CHECKING PAPERWORK/ BALLOT BOXES LOADED/ IFOR TRUCKS LEAVING WAREHOUSE (8 SHOTS) 2.39 TUZLA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (AUGUST 28, 1996) (RTV (A) - ACCESS ALL) 10. GV/MV: VIEWS OF A RALLY IN TUZLA AT WHICH THE LEADER OF THE JOINT LIST PARTY ZLATKO LAGUMDZIJA AND THE MAYOR OF TUZLA SELIM BSELAGIC ADDRESSED THE CROWD AND SAID THEY HOPED THE ELECTIONS WOULD GO AHEAD (5 SHOTS) 3.10 -------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT SEQUENCE 4: SILAJDZIC: "WE SUGGEST TO OUR CITIZENS NOT TO VOTE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, BECAUSE IT IS NOT QUITE CLEAR WHERE WE STAND NOW WITH CONDITIONS FOR ELECTIONS. ESPECIALLY THE REGISTRATION FOR THE (INDISTINCT) FORM. AS YOU KNOW THAT REGISTRATION ALLOWS PEOPLE TO VOTE IN OTHER PEOPLES HOMES. PEOPLE WHO WERE KILLED PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR THEM. I DO NOT THINK THAT WE CAN TAKE IT. WE ARE STILL IN THE PROCESS OF DIGGING THE DEAD BODIES OF SREBRENICA - THE PERPETRATORS HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 12th September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ZAGREB, CROATIA / TUZLA AND SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
  • City:
  • Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Reuters ID: LVA8J0O0CWUDFZV8UV0DUZRIJ1H3
  • Story Text: INTRO: Thousands of refugees, displaced by years of conflict, will vote on Thursday (August 29) in the Bosnian elections. However, the Bosnian opposition leader, Haris Silajdzic has called on his supporters living abroad to suspend voting.

    The OSCE has begun delivering ballot boxes to regional centres in Bosnia ahead of the poll. In Tuzla, thousands gathered for a demonstration in support of the Joint List opposition party.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- The head of Croatia's office for refugees and displaced persons on Friday (August 23) presented a final list of Bosnian voters eligible to vote in Croatia.

    Damir Zoric said that of more than 117,000 registered Bosnian voters currently living in Croatia fewer than 14,000 had decided to return to Bosnia. They would be voting in Croatia.

    Zoric displayed samples of ballot papers and ballot boxes. He said that once the boxes at polling stations throughout Croatia are filled, they will be sealed and transported under heavy security first to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) headquarters in Zagreb and then on to Sarajevo for counting.

    Most Bosnian Moslem refugees say they will vote for a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Bosnian Croats, on the other hand, say they will vote for Croatian representatives and showed suspicion that the elections could result in ethnic unification of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    Both the Bosnian ruling party and main opposition party led by Haris Silajdzic on Wednesday (August 28) called on their supporters living abroad to suspend voting in the upcoming elections until what it called registration irregularities were clearad up.

    Silajdzic pointed at continued disatisfaction with the way the Republika Srpska was using the registration process to forcefully change the outcome of the elections.

    The OSCE described the elections described the move by the leading Bosnian parties as purely political, and called on all parties to move ahead and let the spirit of Dayton prevail.

    On the outskirts of Sarajevo, Greek Implementation Force (IFOR) soldiers arrived at a warehouse early on Wednesday (August 28) to begin loading the first of 22,500 ballot boxes to be distributed to IFOR bases throughout the country in the next three days.

    The flat-packed ballot boxes, along with voting screens and voting kits, will be stored on IFOR bases until a week before the elections. They will then be delivered to municipal authorities, who will be responsible for establishing the 4,468 polling stations needed to accommodate as many as two million voters on election day.

    More than ten thousand people gathered in the main square in Tuzla on Wednesday to support Zlatko Lagumdzija and his party, the Joint List.

    Lagumdzija is an outspoken opponent of the ruling party. He is pleased that the municipal elections have been postponed.

    The rally was the biggest so far of the election build-up. The Joint List is a party made up of independent opposition parties and is gaining support as the election date draws closer.

    The Mayor of Tuzla, Selim Bselagic, who was honoured for his part in the peace process is another candidate for the Joint List Party.


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