OH, MY! MORE MOSLEMS & SERBS VOTE THAN ARE ALIVE INBOSNIA!
Mr. Death-By-Diversity...
...Says, "Hello,my brothers."...Says, "Hello,my brothers."High Voter Turnout In Bosnia Suggests Fraud In Balloting
Results Called `Mathematically Impossible'
Saturday, September 21, 1996
1996, Los Angeles Times
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Two independent statistical analyses concluded Friday that the turnout inBosnia's
elections appears to have been implausibly high, suggesting that victorious
nationalist political parties may have stuffed the ballot boxes.
The studies raise questions about the validity of the vote and pose a problemfor
President Bill Clinton's administration, which is eager for the countrywideelection
to be certified as reasonably democratic.
The International Crisis Group, an independent watchdog agency led by former
Democratic Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, said it had calculated the turnoutin last
Saturday's presidential race, based on the estimated electorate and preliminary
results, to have been 106.7 percent. Citing the "mathematical impossibility"of such
a vote, the agency demanded an investigation before results are certified.
"We think it smells," the group's John Faucett said. "Somethingwent wrong. . . .
Either their (original) numbers were completely wrong or there were morevotes
than voters."
Faucett stopped short of accusing parties of cheating. The Organizationfor Security
and Cooperation in Europe, which supervised the election, said it was lookinginto
the allegations and "massaging numbers" to determine whether anythingwas
amiss.
Complicating the calculations was the fact that no one was absolutely sureof the
size of Bosnia's electorate going into the election.
The International Crisis Group, which earlier advocated postponement ofthe
election, made its analysis public Friday.
Separately, another study by Western analysts - which has not been madepublic -
calculated that the turnout of Muslim voters in the Muslim-Croat Federationmay
have been as high as 115 percent and that the turnout for Serbs in the Republika
Srpska may have reached 100 percent.
A senior Western official involved in this analysis said he believed theruling
nationalist parties - the Muslims' Democratic Action Party and the Serbs'Serb
Democratic Party - may have stuffed ballot boxes to ensure their controlof a joint
and two separate legislatures.
Although such cheating would not have changed the presidential results -
where the Democratic Action Party's Alija Izetbegovic and the Serb Democratic
Party's Momcilo Krajisnik won places in a three-member presidency - it might
have deprived Bosnia's fledgling opposition from valuable seats in government,
the official said.
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