The subject of the Croatian elections is also tackled by Sanja Modric of the Zagreb weekly Tjednik, in the magazines issue of June 21, 1997.
Dr. Franjo Tudjman won on June 15 another five year presidential mandate, after an election campaign that did not satisfy even the minimal standard of democracy. This is a conclusion of the mission of OESCE, delegated to observe the presidential elections in Croatia. The head of the delegation, former American senator Paul Simon stated , also in front of the Croatian journalists, that the presidential elections in Croatia were free, but not in any way fair.
According to the Statement of the observing team, typed on 11 text rich pages, there is a thorough unmasking of a very ugly context of the supposedly spectacular win of the HDZ candidate. This victory is seriously shadowed by the fact that hitched into the cart of this candidate were also the state leadership, state services, state treasurers and state media.
Topping the list of most serious dangers for the integrity of elections in Croatia, the observers put the aggressive bias of state media, particularly radio and TV, who have openly rooted for Franjo Tudjman. They have also marked as particularly unacceptable the right of 400, 000 ethnic Croats abroad , mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is about 10 percent of the electoral body, to decide about the election of the president, even though they will in no way feel the consequences of his rule on their backs. The observers also think that around 300, 000 voters of Serb nationality (around 7,7 percent of the electoral body) who have run away from Croatia, mostly after a number of military actions, have been illegally denied the right to vote in Croatia. The presidential elections were also seriously devalued with a series of violent acts against opposition candidates, particularly the attack of an uniformed officer of the Croatian army on Vlado Gotovac in Pula. The OESCE delegation also thought that the candidate of the party in power has absolutely advertised himself without measure, using the logistics of the state, and spending enormous sums of money.
The statements of the OESCE observers which directly bring into question the democratic legitimacy of the Croatia n presidential elections have barely been published, when the US Secretary of State called upon them during a press conference in Washington. She said that the State Department is worried because of the numerous problems during the Croatian elections.
Source: Zagreb weekly Tjednik, June 21, 1997