LOW TURNOUT IN BOSNIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 6,2008) - The first batch of elections results for municipal mayors was been published by the Bosnian Central Election Commission shortly after midnight today. Results for municipal assemblies, as well as more detailed results for the mayoral polls, are expected later today and in the coming days.

The Bosnian Central Election Commission expressed satisfaction that the Bosnian local election appeared to have passed without major incidents. Polling stations opened at 0700 CEST (0500 GMT) and closed at 1900 CEST (1700 GMT) on Sunday.

“We are satisfied having in mind that so far there were no major incidents.We also have to be satisfied with the turnout so far,” Suad Arnautovic, the Bosnian Central Election Commission’s President, told a press conference.

More than three million Bosnian citizens were registered to vote for city councils and mayors throughout Bosnia. The overall turnout was 44.54 percent by 1400 GMT, roughly the same as the 45 percent turnout in the 2004 local elections.

Four Sarajevo municipalities, as well as Banja Luka, Tuzla and Zenica, registered an extremely low turnout which in some places was even under 40 percent, while in some smaller towns like Banovici and Bosanski Petrovac turnout exceeded 74 percent.

The first set of results reaffirmed that the strongest Bosnian political party remains the Party of Democratic Action, SDA.Results also indicated that the main opposition the Bosnian Social Democratic Party, SDP, maintained a rather strong position, especially in urban areas, including at least two out of four Sarajevo municipalities.

Leader of the genocidal Serbian fascist creature in Bosnia "RS" Milorad Dodik's SNSD won the majority of votes of the Serbians living in Bosnia.The HDZ and splinter group HDZ 1990 won the majority of votes of the Croatians living in Bosnia.

However Results are still unknown for 25 out of 149 municipalities, including several key municipalities and towns, such as Srebrenica, Tuzla and Banja Luka.
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COPPOLA COMMENDS PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF POLICE DURING LOCAL ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 6,2008) - Head of the EU Police Mission in Bosnia (EUPM) Brigadier General Vincenzo Coppola is pleased to note that the local elections in Bosnia passed smoothly over the weekend with no notable incidents. In the very few instances of minor disorder the local police responded in a professional and proper manner,the EUPM said.

“Based on the reports received from EU Police Mission’s officers who were alongside their colleagues from Bosnia, we observed that the security situation prior and during the polling was completely satisfactory,” said General Coppola and commended Bosnian police agencies for their highly professional work, which has ensured the security and safety of all citizens on the polling day in Bosnia.

EUPM has been actively monitoring the preparation of the security plans and the Bosnian police agencies’ conduct at the elections.
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BOSNIAN COUNCIL OF MINISTRES TO DISCUSS ACTION PLAN FOR EUROPEAN PARTNERSHIP

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 6,2008) - Action plan for realization of the priorities from European partnership has been prepared and this document will be considered at the session of the Bosnian Council of Ministers today, the Director of the Bosnian Directorate for European Integrations Osman Topcagic said.

Besides this document, which is the first out of 30 priorities of the European Commission, out of which fulfilment the assessment of Bosnia's progress depends, the Bosnian government should also consider the Report on what was accomplished from June 15th till today.

"This will be our proposal that we’re sending to Brussels to be included in the Annual report on progress," Topcagic said.

He announced that the Bosnian Council of Ministers should, today, form the temporary board for monitoring the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreemnet between Bosnia and the European Union.

The meeting of this board, when the European Commission will give their assessment on the degree of the implementation of the agreement so far, is scheduled for October 7th.
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TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOMIR VUKOVIC BEGINS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 6,2008) - At the plea hearing before the Section I for War Crimes of the Bosnian State Court of Bosnia in the case of Serbian war criminal Radomir , the accused pleaded not guilty on Friday. Serbian war criminal Radomir Vuković is charged with the criminal offense of Genocide,the Bosnian State Court said.

As stated in the Indictment, there is grounded suspicion that as a member of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations, during the period from 10 to 19 July 1995, with the intent to partly exterminate a group of Bosnian people, Serbian war criminal Radomir Vuković participated in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of forcibly removing around 40 thousand Bosnian civilians from the UN Safe Area Srebrenica and mass murdering of more than 10,000 Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica.

According to the Indictment, on 12 July 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia, Serbian war criminal Radomir Vuković participated in the search of Bosnian villages around Potočari aiming to expel Bosnians from them to the territories controlled by the Bosnian Army.

As further stated in the Indictment, Serbian war criminal Radomir Vuković participated in the illegal detention of thousands of Bosnian civilians from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

On 13 July 1995,Serbian war criminal Radomir Vuković also participated in escorting a column of more than a thousand of illegaly detained Bosnian civilians from the Bosnian village of Sandići to the warehouse of the Kravice Farming Cooperative, knowing that they would be mass murdered.

On the same day,the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor murdered some 1,500 Bosnian civilians by firing from automatic weapons and by throwing hand grenades on them.

Serbian war criminal Radomir Vuković participated in the mass murder.
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FBIH ENTITY AUTHORITIES WANT ARCELOR MITTAL'S ACCOUNT BLOCKED

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 6,2008) - The inspectorate administration of the FBIH entity will request that the account of Zenica-based Arcelor Mittal be blocked because of a 2 million Bosnian Marks debt, the head of the administration,Ibrahim Tirak has announced.

According to him the debt was incurred by ignoring a charge payable "for general forest use".

While the steel maker claims to have been exempt from paying this charge by the purchase agreement for the Zenica plant, Tirak responds: "That’s impossible, they are a private company, and there is no reason for the state not to take money from them which belongs to it." Arcelor Mittal has not paid the charge since 2002.
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BOSNIAN TAX ADMINISTRATION TO DISCUSS AMENDMENTS TO EXCISE ACT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 6,2008) - The management board of the Bosnian Tax Administration is expected to discuss the proposed amendments to the Excise Act this week.

The proposal, among other things, includes an increase of excises on certain luxury items.

While excises on tobacco products are almost certain to go up, the tax rates on oil and derivatives will not be increased because of the turbulent nature of that market segment, the spokesman of the UIO has announced. If everything goes as planned, the amended law could take effect from January 1, 2009.
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