9 September 97, 19:30
Mostar – At an emergency session today, the HDZ Presidency decided not to participate in the local elections. The Presidency took the view that conditions for free and democratic election had not been met in an atmosphere where the DPA and electoral rules had been flagrantly violated. Bozo Rajic, President of the HDZ stated that under such conditions the Croatian people had been put in an inferior position. In an official statement issued afterwards, the HDZ Presidency explained that the decision to boycott the election was made because objections by the HDZ Electoral Board related to the registration of voters had been disregarded. The report further informed that Robert Frowick, Head of the OSCE mission in BiH proposed to HDZ officials to exclude the Central District zone in Mostar as an electoral unit and to organize elections in the six Mostar municipalities, but his proposal was turned down.
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High ranking SDS official Aleksa Buha was quoted to have stated that the SDS would boycott the local elections because of the total crisis in the implementation of the DPA, maintained the report quoting AP.
However, the same report quoted David Foley, OSCE Spokesman as saying that the OSCE was planning to hold the elections as scheduled.
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Banja Luka – A number of high ranking RS officials, including Momcilo Krajisnik, Dragan Kalinic and Gojko Klickovic, had been held at the Hotel Bosna for an entire day by the Banja Luka police loyal to Biljana Plavsic and numerous citizens who did not hide their hostile feelings. Lastly, the group of RS officials was evacuated by SFOR APCs, said the report.
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Sarajevo – Momcilo Krajisnik, RS member in the BH Presidency did not show up at the scheduled session of this body due to developments in Banja Luka. Duncan Bullivant, OHR Spokesman announced that the session would be held tomorrow but refused to speculate on whether Krajisnik would show up.
Mostar – At a regular press conference, Dragan Gasic, OHR Spokesman told the press that Sir Martin Garrod, Head of the OHR Regional office is very much disappointed that the Cantonal Assembly failed to adopt amendments on the cantonal constitution and announced that punitive measures would be taken against those who obstruct the process.
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Darinko Bago, Croatian Ambassador to BiH protested to the OSCE against allegations cited in an article in the paper Dani. Namely, the paper claimed that intelligence reports on activities of Croatian officials were secretly obtained from the OSCE.
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