THE FIRST POSTWAR ELECTIONS IN B&H
Who will be Voted for
AIM Sarajevo, June 25, 1996
Who, when and in what manner will vote in the first postwar elections in B&H, according to the task undertaken in Dayton, should be determined by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Who they will vote for is a question which, most probably and according to the present assessments, Bosnian and Herzegovinians will decide on September 14.
According to official information, the OSCE has accepted to register 49 political parties and 33 independent candidates who wish to participate in the forthcoming elections. The polls in the media are trying to guess who the inhabitants of B&H will vote for in the post-Dayton elections, but it is an irrefutable fact that the population is still far from having set up its mind.
The OSCE states that 51 political parties have submitted applications to participate in the elections, and that two have been rejected and one was accepted for the municipal level only, although it wished candidacy on the higher level. These three parties have a right to appeal within three days, they say in the OSCE and add that the time limit for the OSCE to answer them is also three days. Nevertheless, they state that the decision of the Temporary Election Committee of OSCE which will follow is - irrevocable.
Only one independent candidate has collected a sufficient number of signatures to become a candidate for the Chamber of Representatives of B&H. Vladimir Srebrov has met the criterion according to which independent candidates may run for the highest instance if they collect at least five thousand signatures of support. Political parties which wish to run for the same instance need ten thousand signatures, while for the cantonal assembly they need 1,500, and for municipal 200 signatures of the citizens are needed.
Potential voters were expected to give 800 signatures to independent candidates to enable them to run for cantonal deputies, while for the municipal assembly independeent candidates needed a hundred signatures of support. Citizens of B&H had the right to give signatures of support to more than one party or candidate. In this way, the signatories did not guarantee that they would vote for that party or candidate in the forthcoming elections, as the OSCE officials declare.
Representatives of the OSCE stress that signing of a list of support for the candidates is in fact expressing support to the multiparty system. None of these signatures will ever be publicized, and the list will be destroyed, after the OSCE acquires an insight into necessary information.
Political parties and independent candidates could run for the Presidency of B&H, Assembly of B&H, Presidency of the Republic of Srpska (RS), People's Assembly of the RS, Assembly of the Federation, assemblies of the cantons and municipalities.
Twenty seven political parties from the territory of the Federation of B&H registered to run in the elections for various levels. Among them are: Croat Democratic Community of B&H (HDZ B&H), Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Union of B&H Social Democrats (UBSD), Party of Women, Party for B&H, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Muslim Bosniac Organization (MBO), Bosnian Party, Liberal Bosniac Organization (LBO)...
On the terrtory of the Republic of Srpska, 21 political parties were registered which wish to run in the foprthcoming elections. Some of them are the follwoing: Serb Democratic Party of Serb countries, Party of Serb Unity, Serb Radical Party, Yugoslav Left, Independent Social Democrats, Democratic Patriotic Block of the RS, Serb Revival Movement, Radical Fatherland Front "Nikola Pasic".
Although some of the names of the parties from the territory of the RS which have decided to run in the elections remind of the fact that among their leaders are people susprected by the Tribunal in the Hague of crimes committed during the war in B&H, it was stated by the OSCE that the suspects will not have the right to appear in the elections. Pursuant the provisions of behavior prescribed by the OSCE, for Radovan Karadzic, leader of the rebellious Bosnian Serbs, or any other person suspected by the Tribunal who disobeyed the provisions on appearance at the Tribunal, it will be impossible to run in the elections, it is declared by the OSCE.
According to what the spokeswoman of OSCE, Joanna van Vliet, said at the last press conference in Sarajevo, political parties had not yet submitted the lists of their candidates for the elections. Ms Vilet stressed that the OSCE would supervise the process of printing ballots in order to make sure that names of persons suspected by the Tribunal who failed to abide by the rule of appearing at court would not appear on them.
At the point halfway from Dayton, hardly anyone, for example, among the Sarajevans whom you happened to stop in the street would be able to tell you anything about political orientation of the party or candidate they would vote for. There are also few of those who know "who their candidate" is. They often mention elections from November 1990 and the war which broke out in 1992. On the other hand, high political figures doubt that by September elections it will be possible to create the main preconditions for democratic and fair elections in B&H. Among them, as the very fundamental ones, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are often mentioned.
SANDRA KUKIC