PROPORTIONATE ELECTORAL SYSTEM PREVENTS PARLIAMENT BIPOLARITY - SAYS SEKS

ZAGREB, Feb 16 (Hina) - The vice president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and president of the HDZ parliamentary bench, Vladimir Seks, on Tuesday told reporters in Zagreb parliament would most probably discuss a motion to have the entire Croatia as one electoral unit and to adopt a purely proportionate system at the next elections. Seks said it was very probable the motion would undergo serious discussion and might even be adopted. He believes the motion for a proportionate electoral system would be acceptable from HDZ's interest point of view, and would prevent bipolarity in the composition of parliament and Croatia's political scene. The motion would also be in keeping with the democratic principle according to which proportionate representation and the proportionate electoral model are "the embodiment of democracy," Seks said. Asked how many parties parliament would then include, Seks said that would depend on the prohibitive clause, i.e. the electoral threshold. The best is to have " a reasonable prohibitive clause," he added. "This means a clause ensuring representation to the largest part of relevant political world views and parties, and not to some entirely marginal ones (...) which are not relevant from the point of the expression of interests of the largest section of the population," Seks said. Asked if an electoral list for the diaspora would remain, Seks said the list was a separate one for Croatian citizens without residence in Croatia. "The matter will be discussed further, but the principle itself for me remains wholly beyond question," he concluded. (hina) ha jn