BOSNIA: RADOVAN KARADZIC ELECTION POSTERS APPEAR IN PALE

Описание: (7 Sep 1998) Serbo-Croat/Nat

Election posters of Bosnia's leading war crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic, have appeared in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale in violation of election rules.

The posters surfaced the day after a rally by the Serb Democratic Party - the nationalist party Karadzic led until he was forced to withdraw from political life after he was indicted by the U-N war crimes tribunal.

It's not clear who plastered Pale with Karadzic posters, but sources close to the S-D-S leadership claim the party had nothing to do with it and blamed it on political opponents.

Less then a week before elections in Bosnia, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), led by hard-liner Momcilo Krajisnik, has begun a campaign to win absolute power in the Serb entity.

Although Biljana Plavsic, the Serb Coalition candidate, is believed to have strong support among Serbs, about four-thousand people gathered at an S-D-S rally in Pale on Sunday.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"To be honest I am very pessimistic. I would like our national party to win the elections so that all our victims haven't suffered in vain."
SUPER CAPTION: Serb man

People in Pale have been living in very poor economic conditions.

It was here that posters of the Serb candidate Momcilo Krajisnik were replaced with pictures of the former Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic on Monday night.

With the economic situation continuing to deteriorate, poverty, black markets and smuggling still prevail in the former Bosnian Serb capital.

Many blame the presidential candidate, Momcilo Krajisnik, for the current situation, although he still has support in rural parts of
the Republika Serbska.

Refugees like these are among the worst affected by the deteriorating situation.

They are still unable to return to their homes, so they have to stay in refugee centres like this one.

Whatever way the Bosnian elections go, their plight is unlikely to be eased in the short term.

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