GONG WILL ENCOURAGE MPS TO FULFIL WHAT THEY PROMISED

ZAGREB, Feb 10 (Hina) - The non-government association GONG (Organised Election Monitoring By Citizens) has decided to attend sessions of the Croatian National Sabor's House of Representatives in order to encourage MPs to a more open attitude toward citizens and monitor whether they are abiding by and fulfilling their electoral promises, GONG executive director Suzana Jasic told reporters on Thursday. More than 400 Zagreb residents have registered with GONG for the monitoring of parliamentary sessions, and GONG has contacted some university lecturers who are also to monitor the sessions and make quarterly reports informing citizens about the parliament's work, Jasic said. Apart from the project "An Open Sabor", Jasic and GONG spokeswoman Aleksandra Kuratko also presented a project entitled "Public Advocating", which is aimed at encouraging ministries and other important state factors to take certain measures, such as changing some laws, including the Electoral Law, the Law on Assembly and the Law on Donations. Speaking about the second round of presidential elections in Croatia, Jasic and Kuratko expressed great satisfaction with their course, adding that citizens were better informed and more interested in the election and stressing the professionalism of voters' committees. The number of irregularities reported in the second round was much smaller than in the first round and during the parliamentary election. GONG, which has been monitoring elections in Croatia since 1997, assesses that with their large turnout, Croatian citizens have demonstrated their interest in participating in the country's political life. Preparations and the course of the elections put Croatia among countries with a high level of democracy. The most serious objection to the elections refers to the violation of the media blackout by some media, which resulted in the announcement of the results of the presidential run-off before the expiry of the media blackout. (hina) rml