The mission recommended that the same registration rules should be used as in the last local election and that any reforms should be based on a broad consensus among political and civil society protagonists after public debate.
The proposals, included in the Draft Amendments to the Law on the Election of Members of Representative Bodies of Local and Regional Self-Government Units, could disenfranchise many voters who temporarily work or live away from their permanent residence, and are likely to have a disproportionate effect on refugees, the OSCE said.
The statement quoted the head of the OSCE Mission, Ambassador Peter Semneby, as saying that "displaced Croatian Serbs involuntarily living outside Croatia must be able to vote."
Semneby said that the draft amendments did not specify how the authorities would check if citizens actually lived where they had their permanent residence.
"These stringent residency requirements introduce possibilities for arbitrary administrative action. I would be particularly concerned if such controls were to be undertaken by door-to-door police checks," he said.
The ambassador also warned against the introduction of property-related eligibility criteria for refugees and displaced persons which could unfairly exclude many voters.
Citing some positive developments in electoral legislation, Semneby said that a substantial amount of work was still needed in several other key areas, such as the establishment of a permanent body to administer elections; update of voters' lists; organisation of out-of-country voting; clear election procedures for minorities at local and Councils of National Minorities elections; regulation of campaign funding; fair media access; and the domestic monitoring of elections.
The OSCE Mission is ready to provide the Croatian authorities with all necessary assistance, in particular through opinions and recommendations from experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Venice Commission (Council of Europe), the statement said.