HC Deb 21 June 1996 vol 279 cc653-4W
Mr. Macdonald

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements the Government are making to ensure that refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina are able to vote in the forthcoming elections for the new Mostar local authorities and in the planned nationwide elections in September. [33777]

Sir Nicholas Bonsor

For the Mostar municipal elections due to be held on 30 June, the European Union has undertaken to designate one refugee voting centre in each of the four countries outside former Yugoslavia where the majority of Mostar refugees live, and to support financially bus transport to Mostar for refugees who wish to participate in the elections.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the International Organisation of Migration will organise registration and voting for the nationwide elections for Bosnians resident in third countries. As a voluntary contribution to this process, Her Majesty's Government have made available office facilities for a registration and voting centre to be run under IOM supervision and have helped with the distribution of information to refugee populations.