Presidents Ivica Racan of the SDP, Vesna Pusic of the HNS and Zlatko Tomcic of the HSS told a news conference today before the resumption of the 11th parliamentary session that last night's refusal of the motion by the parliamentary majority was the second case of falsifying the quorum.
The first case happened when MPs were to vote on the appointment of the Conflict of Interest Commission, when persons in charge of counting MPs attending the session also counted deputies who were leaving the room and had their backs turned to the session chairman.
Last night the quorum was again falsified when it was said that there were 79 MPs although this could not be so, the leaders of the three opposition parties said.
That is why the Opposition insists on repeating the vote on the no-confidence motion in the Zuzul case, while Sabor President Vladimir Seks has said that he will consider this and notify clubs of parliamentary parties of his decision on Friday afternoon.
Rumours about the actual number of MPs attending last night's session could be heard in the parliament lobbies on Friday morning. Some claimed that the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) could not have secured the necessary quorum even theoretically.
Deputies and reporters, who today tried to calculate how many MPs were present, started from the fact that in case that there were all 66 HDZ MPs plus five representatives of ethnic minorities, they needed another six MPs for the quorum of 77 MPs.
One of minority deputies, Jene Adam, said that he did not attend the session due to a sore throat. Others claim that another minority deputy, Zdenka Cuhnil, was also not in the parliament.
While staff in charge of counting present MPs were doing their job, two deputies of the opposition Party of Rights (HSP), Anto Djapic and Vlado Jukic, Democratic Centre (DC) MP Frano Piplovic, independent MP Ivo Loncar, and a Party of Pensioners (HSU) MP, Silvano Hrelja, were in the Sabor hall along with 66 HDZ MPs. If to this number one adds Libra MP Vilim Herman, who said that he was leaving the room when the quorum was being established, the sum is 75 deputies.
Representatives of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and the Social Liberals (HSLS), who are part of the parliamentary majority, have said that none of their deputies were in the Sabor. It is therefore unclear how the staff in charge of counting attending MPs could come to the figure of 79 and 78 MPs attending the session at the time of the vote.
The 'counters' have dismissed accusations of being involved in falsifying the quorum, adding that they always count MPs who are in the hall regardless of whether they are sitting or walking through the hall.
On Friday afternoon, the HDZ club of deputies resolutely dismissed the opposition's accusations.
They hit back by claiming that the opposition, after being unable to prove Zuzul's alleged involvement in scandals, made up a story about a lack of quorum.
A senior HDZ official, Luka Bebic, stuck to the assertion that there had been 78 MPs in the Sabor hall (one more than necessary) when the parliament voted on the no-confidence motion against Zuzul.
"There was the quorum, and this cannot be questioned," Bebic told a news conference in the parliament.
Asked why the HDZ had turned down the opposition's proposal to vote individually on their motion, Bebic said that a vote by a show of hands, which was adopted by the majority, took less time.
HDZ MPs accused the Opposition of obstructing the work of parliament.
Bebic accused the media of being more willing to relay the positions of the Opposition than of the ruling party.
He criticised the Croatian Television (HTV) for having reported earlier in the day that there had been 76 MPs in the Sabor hall during the vote on the Zuzul case.