ELECTIONS IN B&H

AIM, September 14, 1996

Bijeljina - Brcko: Chaos on the Road

At seven o'clock this morning all 113 polling stations opened in Semberija, in which over 120 thousand voters from this part of Republika Srpska will vote.

According to the 1991 census, there were 94 thousand voters in Semberija, and 24,300 refugees from the territory of Bosnia & Herzegiovina registered to vote in this area. There are also three polling stations intended for voters from the Federation B&H. Thy will vote in suburbal local communities which are at the entrance of Bijeljina from the direction of Brcko, Tuzla and other regions of B&H Federation. They are villages Suvo Polje, Donji Zagoni and Hase. The first bus with some thirty odd voters from Tuzla have arrived to the polling station in Suho Polje about 10 o'clock. Among these voters are mostly elderly persons who used to live in this region. According to the previously supplied OSCE lists, 2250 voters for B&H Federation are expected to vote here today.

At the polling station No. 1 in Bijeljina, Izidin Mulajmovic voted this morning and said: "I expect great changes after these elections. I was a volunteer in the army of Republika Srpska since 1992. I am also a disabled veteran. Nevertheless, these authorities have taken my apartment, my car, all my property, in other words, they are not capable to protect all that for me. I have voted for changes".

A certain number of people from semberija will vote under tents, due to a lack of adequate space where polling stations could be opened.

"A large number of voters who were in the interim electoral register were left out, and this significantly slows down the procedure in some of the polling stations. This is an omission of the OSCE, because they have had time to verify all the lists", said Veselin Londrovic, President of the Municipal Polling Committee in Bijeljina.

Elections in Semberija are monitored by 40 international controllers and a certain number of observers who had previously arrived in this region.

Bijeljina is also a distribution centre for voters who, coming from FR Yugoslavia, continue from Bijeljina to other places in B&H in order to vote there.

During the night, five trains have arrived to Bijeljina from Belgrade and Novi Sad bringing 3500 voters whose main destination was Bijeljina and other towns in Posavina and western part of Republika Srpska.

More than 5000 voters have been transported so far in different directions.

Another 2000 voters are expected to arrive by train from Sid, and around 13.00 hours another four trains from the direction of Novi Sad and Belgrade are expected to arrive, stated Mirko Sokara, the official on duty in the Headquarters of the Ministry of Communications. "About 220 buses were engaged to transport voters, and in the afternoon, those who have finished voting will be offered transportation to places they had come from. For return of voters from Prijedor and Banja Luka, a train to Samac will be provided, where they will be taken by bus to Bijeljina, and from there by train towards FR of Yugoslavia", said Sokara.

The last train from Belgrade which transported refugess from FR Yugoslavia to vote in Republika Srpska started at 7.05 from the central railway station.

This train, as planned, took voters from Belgrade municipalities Cukarica and Stari Grad, majority of which will be transported to Brcko immediately after arrival in Bijeljina.

From FR Yugoslavia, this morning until 9.00 o'clock, 84 buses with 8,080 voters who will vote in Zvornik and Vlasenica crossed the border near Karakaj and Sopacki most into RS.

According to the words of the head of public security service, Dragomir Vasic, from B&H Federation to the territory of this minicipality in Planinci, a bus arrived with 12 persons who were enabled immediate access to the polling station.

At this "voters'" road, in Obudovac, between Brcko and Modrica, a traffic hold-up occurred. Without agreement with representatives of the Centre of Security Service Brcko, IFOR placed a control point here. This caused formation of a line of about hundred buses and many more cars, about 4 kilometres long.