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Thursday, October 27,1988 The Battalion Page 11 World/Nation outh Africans of all races vote in elections, black turnout low JOHANNESBURG, South Africa BAP) — Security forces ringed polling pooths Wednesday as South Africans of 111 races, voting simultaneously for the first time, elected segregated municipal louncils nationwide. President P.W. Botha’s National party faced a fierce challenge from the extreme-right Conservative Party in Jvhite communities. Many of those com munities experienced their first partisan oca! elections after decades of National ist dominance. The turnout was low in many black ; townships where anti-apartheid activists |rged an election boycott in defiance of state-of-emergency regulations. ■There were scattered arson and stone- owing attacks but no fatalities or ma jor clashes, reported South African po lice. ■ In Soweto, a township near Johannes burg where more than 2 million blacks live, only 4,000 people had voted by midaftemoon, the state radio reported. The radio said 20,000 of Soweto’s 347,000 registered voters had cast bal lots before the election. Nationwide, 7,229 council seats were at stake in 1,071 communities. The state radio said only 905 of the 1,839 black council seats were being contested. Anti-apartheid clergymen such as An glican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, win ner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, op posed the elections and urged South Africans to fast and pray during the day. The government spent millions of dol lars on advertising to promote a high turnout, contending that the municipal elections broadened democracy even though blacks cannot vote in national elections. Critics say turnout percentages will have little meaning because millions of blacks were considered ineligible to vote. Many leading black opposition groups are banned. Many schools in black, mixed-race and Asian townships near Johannesburg and Cape Town were virtually deserted as students stayed away to protest the elections. In the white elections, the pro-apart heid Conservative Party hoped to capture the city council in Pretoria, the capital, and sweep to power in most northern towns. Formed only eight years ago, and never before a factor in local elections, the Conservative Party won 26 percent of the vote in national elections in May 1987. Its leaders believe they could seriously challenge the National Party in parlia mentary elections expected by early 1990. The Conservatives view Botha’s grad ual race reforms as capitulation to the black majority and seek to reimpose strict segregation. Under apartheid, the 5 million whites control the economy and maintain sepa rate districts, schools and health serv- The Conservatives want to toughen enforcement of residential segregation and restrict the presence of blacks in ur ban areas. Bush confident, Dukakis intent ■ Republican George Bush sounded like a man counting down the hours to vic- pry in the race for the White House on Wednesday as he renewed his pledge not to raise taxes. Democrat Michael Duka kis vowed to work, to campaign and to iwin despite the odds against him. ■The latest news from the pollsters was anything but good for the Democrats. A Washington Post survey in Maryland — For'' .S., Soviets break the ice to free whales BARROW, Alaska (AP) — Super- wer saviors were close to opening a path to the sea for two trapped whales Wednesday after Soviet icebreakers lashed through an ice ridge and mericans hacked iceholes toward Russians. The whales are acting in a very ex- (jited manner, almost like they can nse freedom, said Sgt. Ian Rob son, spokesman for the Alaska Na tional Guard. At first light, the Soviet icebreak- s were a half-mile from the line of eathing holes being cut by Ameri cans working in the opposite direc tion, he said. ■ Later Wednesday, rescuers manned to use a gargantuan, tractor- |ke device propelled by pontoon aug ers to cut the relatively thin ice re maining between the whales and the Jebreakcrs’ farthest advance. ■ Rescue coordinator Ron Morris of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmo spheric Administration said the whales could be free by late Wednes day if all went well. The weather was 5 degrees Fahrenheit, Robertson said. The breakthrough in the effort to lee the migrating gray whales caught | in an early freeze came after more pn a week of delays and disappoint ments. ■ “We feel very good about it,” said tear Adm. Sigmund Petersen of NOAA. “The cooperation has just been fantastic. The Soviets came in here with a very positive attitude and went to work immediately. ’ ’ On Tuesday, the Americans moved swim around the shallow water they | had refused to pass. When the Eskimos started cutting the air holes, the whales followed the water to the end, Petersen said. They like that deeper water. ’ ’ Working in the other direction, the Soviet icebreakers reduced to rubble the ice ridge standing between the whales and open water. The ridge, formed by colliding ice masses, was a jumble of ice blocks as big as small one of the nation’s most Democratic states — showed Bush with a nine-point lead, on top of two national polls Tues day that showed a double-digit Demo cratic deficit. Bush’s lead was back down to a single digit in an ABC News-Washington Post poll released late Tuesday in which he was ahead by 52-44. The survey of 1,242 likely voters was conducted during seven days — a longer sampling period than in the other surveys — and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. The vice president began his campaign day in Detroit, where he said Dukakis sounds like a man “just itching to re peal” the income tax cuts of the Reagan era. The vice president also defended his call for a capital gains tax cut from Duka kis’ criticism. “It’s not a tax break for the rich,” he said. “It is a break for those who want to, have a job in this country.” Dukakis was in Colorado, meeting pri vately with Hispanic leaders who later said high voter turnout among their con stituents could deliver a Democratic up set on Election Day. He laid claim to strong Hispanic sup port and said that was due in part to his stand against drugs. “The pollsters are not going to call this election. It’s the people who are going to be voting.” Michael Dukakis “They want a president who doesn’t talk about the subject but who has done something about it,” he said. In Pueblo, Dukakis defended his re cord on gun control in a region where he has been under heavy advertising attack from the National Rifle Association. Dukakis said he does not oppose gun ownership by hunters and sportsmen and for protection. “I hope you’ll take that word back to your friends and neighbors,” he said. “These charges are a lot of baloney and I hope you’ll tell them that.” Advisers insisted the campaign’s own polling reflects a closer race than the Bush lead in national polls. “The pollsters are not going to call this election,” the candidate said. “It’s the people who are going to be voting.” Bush optimistically looked beyond the election. “If I am elected in 13 days, 8 hours and 22 minutes from now ... I will work with Congress — got to do that — telling them the American people in electing me voted against a tax increase,” he said, i “Now let’s sit down together, honor the people’s decision, and hold spending in creases to the rate of inflation.” Bush also contended that there have been a “staggering” number of jobs cre ated as a result of Reagan-era tax cuts. “My opponent thinks they were a di saster,” Bush said. “Those sound to me like the words of someone who is just itching to repeal one of the most success ful economic policies in our history.” President Reagan ventured into Demo cratic Maryland and said Dukakis has un justly accused Bush of running a neg ative campaign. China enters market of satellite launching XICHANG, China (AP) — Turbaned peasants trudge by, prodding water buf falo and lugging firewood, and taking little notice of the towering hollow struc ture from another time and for another universe. Surrounded by green mountains in an isolated comer of Sichuan province, the Xichang Satellite Center and its 11-story gantry is the takeoff point for China’s en try into the international satellite launch ing market. The base, normally closed to foreign ers, is on display as China enters final negotiations with Washington on issuing U.S. licenses for the launch of three Hughes Aircraft Co. satellites. They would be the first American satellites put into orbit by a non-Western country. Agreement has been reached on safe guarding U.S. technology secrets during the launch process and establishing China’s liability in case of accident. Officials meet again in November to work out how to ensure that Chinese prices, much lower than those charged by the U.S. space shuttle or European Ariane services, won’t jeopardize the American commercial launching indus try. Xichang’s first commercial venture could come as early as 1989 with the launch of Westar 6, an old satellite re trieved by the space shuttle in 1984, for AsiaSat, a Hong Kong consortium. An Australian company, AUSSAT, intends to put two Hughes communica tions satellites into orbit in the early 1990s. China decided in the mid-1970s to build a rocket base in this remote area because it is easy to defend, sparsely populated and has clear winter days well suited for launches. Mexico: Oil industry must adjust to lower crude prices MEXICO CITY, (AP) — The state oil export committee held an emergency meeting, and the government-owned oil company Pemex said the oil industry must adjust to lower prices because there will be no recovery soon. The Committee on Petroleum Exports met in an emergency session Tuesday as Mexican crude oil prices continued to plunge, the Mexico City newspaper La Jornada said Wednesday. On Wednesday, the national oil com pany Pemex announced the petroleum industry must get used to low prices be cause a rapid recuperation of prices is not foreseen. Pemex said the average price for its Isthmus grade of crude oil had dropped to an average price of about $10.75 per barrel. Pemex must seek alternative ways to remain competitive in the world oil mar ket, the officials said. Those include new technology, more efficient operations. exploration, development and new ways of buying and selling. Though Mexico is not part of Organi zation of Petroleum Exporting Compa nies, the country has closely followed its pricing and production policies, slowly reducing petroleum production. Nevertheless, La Jornada said, the government committee in charge of oil export policy discussed the possibility of increasing production to bring in more money at the reduced prices. 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