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The Office of the High Representative expresses its
disappointment in the failure of the Mostar City Council to elect the mayor in
the third round of voting last night. The Statute of the City of
Mostar provides ample opportunity for the political parties to reach
agreement through three rounds of voting, which the parties have failed to
do even after more than four months. Thanks to
their persistent failure, there is also no decision on temporary
financing, which means all payments in the City are blocked, which in turn means
the citizens of Mostar are suffering: public employees do not receive
salaries, city institutions are not funded, and children are sitting in
unheated schools because the fuel bills are not paid.
It is particularly regrettable, and perhaps indicative of the
source of the problems, that four councilors from a single party decided to
avoid their responsibilities by not attending yesterday's
session. All who were elected by the citizens of Mostar are
expected to fulfill their minimum obligations to attend City Council
sessions.
As the final round of voting did not produce any positive result, the City
Council must now repeat the mayoral election procedure, beginning with the
nomination of candidates. The OHR expects the procedure to resume by
next week, and urges the political parties this time to put the citizens'
interests ahead of their own.
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