(14 Apr 1997) Eng/Serbo-Croat/Nat
Serbs in Eastern Slavonia, the last Serb-held part of Croatia, are set for a second day of voting after Sunday's historic election was hit by problems.
The U-N administration, which is running the elections in the region, said the polls would open again from 10 a-m (0800 GMT) to 7 p-m (1700 GMT) Monday.
During Sunday's election, voting lists were found to have names missing and ballot papers were delivered late.
Turnout in the Croatian election Sunday is said to have been good, but it was plagued by irregularities.
Vukovar, in Eastern Slavonia, is one of the places where there were problems.
A U-N spokesman explained why the election had been extended to a second day.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Mr Klein has announced that he's extended the voting period tonight, he's now announced that there will also be voting here in the region tomorrow. This is because ballots were misdirected this morning, deliveries of materials from the Croatian were unsatisfactory and moved in the wrong direction, and most importantly, voting lists were not fully prepared for each polling station. And you must understand that there has also been very late registration here because the local community was not encouraged by its leadership to register to vote. Nonetheless, we could not carry out a full and fair election under these circumstances. That is why Mr Klein has extended the voting period."
SUPER CAPTION: Philip Arnold, United Nations Transition for Eastern Slavonia spokesman
On Sunday, polling booths opened late in up to 70 of the 170 locations, while other places lacked voting lists and even ballot boxes.
When voting lists arrived from Zagreb, some were found to have names missing, while ballot papers were delivered late.
U-N officials criticised Zagreb for administrative incompetence, and also attacked the Serb leadership for only deciding on Friday that the Serbs should take part in the polls.
The elections to Croatia's upper house and local and regional bodies are a key step in returning the region, captured by the rebels in 1991, to Zagreb's control.
Jacques Klein, the U-N administrator of the area, said the Serbs had had six months in which to register to vote.
But faced with last minute problems, the U-N agreed to extend the voting period and to allow people not on the lists but who had Croatian identity cards to vote.
On Monday morning in Vukovar, Serbs queued for last-minute registrations.
Many were unhappy with the way the election had been conducted on Monday.
VOXPOP: (Serbo-Croat)
"Because there were not enough ballots, I've been coming three times yesterday and waiting. We'll see if it will improve today. I think this is not democratic because a lot of people will not be able to vote just because they didn't have enough time to pick up their documents."
One woman claimed the election was dishonest and unfair.
VOXPOP: (Serbo-Croat)
"Honest? Fair? How could it be honest? You can see that half of the people are not on the voting list at all, although they pick up their Croatian citizenship documents. It's not honest. If it was honest all materials would be here already."
In Zagreb Sunday, election officials began sorting through the ballot papers.
Earlier in the day, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman cast his vote in the capital.
His party, the Croatian Democratic Union, is expected to win in most
areas, but lose in some large cities.
Later Sunday, after the announcement of a second day of polling, Tudjman met with party officials and supporters.
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