ZAGREB, Jan 7 (Hina) - The irregularities reported by the members of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) during the parliamentary election are not of such nature to affect its fairness, HHO executive director Bojan
Munjin told reporters on Friday, adding the elections were conducted in an atmosphere of exceptional tolerance. An HHO member Vjekoslav Magas said that following their victory at the elections, the Social Democratic Party/Croatian Social Liberal Party (SDP/HSLS) coalition had failed to mention the role of non-government organisations and institutions of civil society in motivating citizens to go to the polls. This proves that in Croatian politics there is still a way of thinking according to which authority is self-sufficient and that there is no significant progress in the treatment of the institutions of civil society, Magas said. He also commented on statements given by
ZAGREB, Jan 7 (Hina) - The irregularities reported by the members of
the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) during the
parliamentary election are not of such nature to affect its
fairness, HHO executive director Bojan Munjin told reporters on
Friday, adding the elections were conducted in an atmosphere of
exceptional tolerance.
An HHO member Vjekoslav Magas said that following their victory at
the elections, the Social Democratic Party/Croatian Social Liberal
Party (SDP/HSLS) coalition had failed to mention the role of non-
government organisations and institutions of civil society in
motivating citizens to go to the polls.
This proves that in Croatian politics there is still a way of
thinking according to which authority is self-sufficient and that
there is no significant progress in the treatment of the
institutions of civil society, Magas said.
He also commented on statements given by Radimir Cacic (Croatian
People's Party, HNS) and Zeljka Antunovic (Social Democratic
Party, SDP) in a Croatian Television show. The question of
professional responsibility of some reporters can be discussed
only in line with the law and respecting the opinion of professional
institutions, primarily the Croatian Journalists' Association
(HND) and its Court of Honour, and not from the position of
political power, Magas said, adding Cacic's and Antunovic's
statements could be understood as "the announcement of a purge."
"The victorious coalition thus shows that it understands its
electoral victory as omnipotence," Magas said, adding the HHO would
not tolerate such behaviour.
The irregularities reported during the voting referred to the
setting up of crosses and pictures of the late President Franjo
Tudjman at some polling stations, the candidacy of some members of
electoral commissions, and a dozen reports about the violation of
the media blackout.
Magas also named as an irregularity the fact that certificates
confirming a voter's being registered in voters' lists, which were
sent to voters' addresses, also contained their nationality, which
is in contravention of the European convention on minority tights,
Magas said.
Magas also outlined the main tasks of the new authority - solving
the issue of national minorities and the status of Croatian
citizens living in Bosnia-Herzegovina as regards their
participation in elections in Croatia. Magas believes it is
impossible to defend two opposed principles, that is, speak of
Bosnian Croats as both the Croatian Diaspora and a constituent
people in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(hina) rml