SARAJEVO Muslim incumbent Alija Izetbegovic has won re-election to Bosnia's inter-ethnic state presidency where he will be joined by a new Croat nationalist and a Serb moderate, according to results announced Friday. Ante Jelavic of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Zivko Radisic of the Sloga (Unity) Coalition were declared the winners from the September 12-13 elections by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The results had been widely expected, with Radisic defeating incumbent Serb hardliner Momcilo Krajisnik an opponent of the Dayton accords that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war by a margin of 45,000 votes. For the presidency of Bosnia's Serb entity of Republika Srpska, again as expected, Serb Radical Party (SRS) leader Nikola Poplasen defeated Sloga incumbent Biljana Plavsic, the favored candidate of Western nations guiding the Dayton process.

Robert Barry, the OSCE mission chief in Bosnia, told reporters that the complete results of the election which were still being made public at 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) would show a continuation of the process of erosion of support for nationalist parties. Voters, he said, seemed to be thinking independently for themselves more than in any other elections when nationalist parties won overwhelming support from their respective ethnic communities.

(AFP)