Press Releases

ELECTIONS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: ABSENTEE VOTING IN CANADA

(OTTAWA, May 29, 1998) – The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, today announced that Elections Canada is facilitating the dissemination and distribution of information materials to citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina residing in Canada who are potential voters in the 1998 general election in that country. Any citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who was resident there in 1991, and who will have reached the age of 18 years on or before September 13, 1998, is eligible to vote. This includes refugees living outside the country. The election will be held on September 12 and 13.

Elections Canada is facilitating the dissemination and distribution of information materials in response to a request from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/Out of Country Voting Office (OSCE/OCV). The OSCE has the overall responsibility for supervising and preparing for the elections.

If an elector was registered to vote in the 1997 elections, he or she should have received in the mail a registration form that must be completed and returned to the OSCE in Vienna to be eligible to vote by mail.

Electors who were not registered for the 1997 elections, or who have not received a personalized registration form, are advised to call the hotline established at Elections Canada Headquarters in Ottawa without delay to obtain a registration form. The toll-free number is 1 800 267-8683.

The deadline for registration is June 13, 1998.

Operators, who speak the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian), will be available Monday to Friday, May 25 to June 17, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Electors must sign the registration form and return it by mail or by fax to the OSCE/OCV office in Vienna, along with a photocopy of proof of identity, on or before Saturday, June 13, 1998.

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina may also contact the OSCE/OCV hotline in Vienna at 011-43-1-503-6660/1.

For further information, contact Nancy MacLeod at 1 800 267-7360 or at (613) 993-2224 or by fax at (613) 954-8584 or TTY/TDD at 1 800 361-8935. You may also contact Elections Canada by e-mail or visit our Web site at http://www.elections.ca