(6 Sep 1997) Eng/Serbo-Croat/Nat
Bosnia's long-delayed nationwide local elections will go ahead next week as scheduled, the lead organiser of the vote said after talks with Bosnian Serb leaders.
A threatened Bosnian Serb boycott of the Sept. 13-14 elections now appears less likely according to Robert Frowick, mission chief of the 54-nation Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The first ballot papers for municipal elections in Bosnia arrived late Friday night in the capital Sarajevo
The OSCE mission in Bosnia is confident the elections will take place on September 13th and 14th.
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had urged Bosnian Serb leaders to cooperate with international officials and take part in the elections.
They have been postponed three times for fear they could not be properly conducted. The polls were agreed under the 1995 Dayton plan meant to restore peace and order after Bosnia's three and a half year war.
In a statement Friday night in Sarajevo, a five-nation group working on the elections reaffirmed its commitment to holding the vote as planned, making clear the vote will go
ahead no matter what the Serbs decide.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Municipal elections will take place on September 13th and 14th and these are the first ballots to be delivered in Sarajevo, and all 136 municipalities will get these forms within the next couple of days."
SUPER CAPTION: David Foley, OSCE spokesman
OSCE officials met the hardline Bosnian Serb leadership in Pale who are still voicing concerns about alleged irregularities in voters' lists in many Serb-held towns.
Election rules would allow ethnic Muslims and Croats who lived in such towns before the war to vote by absentee ballot.
Bosnian Serb Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha remains cautious, saying only that "certain progress" have been made.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"Our parliament will make a final decision on 10th September about the elections to be held or not. We are simply waiting to have the voters lists checked again"
SUPER CAPTION: Bosnian Serb Foreign Minister
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We want to provide municipal elections for the people of Bosnia to vote for whomever they want and it is in everybody's interest to vote for their future municipal governments."
SUPER CAPTION: Robert Frowick, US Ambassador
The issue goes beyond Bosnia's long-delayed elections - at stake is the success of the Dayton peace agreement itself.
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