ZAGREB, Sept 2 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) parliamentary bench on Thursday sent into parliamentary procedure a bill on the election of representatives to the Croatian National Sabor, Sabor Vice-President and chief HDZ
negotiator on election legislation, Vladimir Seks, told reporters today.
ZAGREB, Sept 2 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)
parliamentary bench on Thursday sent into parliamentary procedure
a bill on the election of representatives to the Croatian National
Sabor, Sabor Vice-President and chief HDZ negotiator on election
legislation, Vladimir Seks, told reporters today. #L#
"I expect the election bill to be discussed in the first reading on
September 23 or 24, and to be finally adopted after the second
reading, by October 15. Sent into parliamentary procedure along
with the election bill was also a bill on constituencies, which
should also be debated and adopted until October 15, that is,
shortly after the election bill", Seks said.
He stressed it was necessary to draw up as soon as possible rules of
procedure which will specify the conduct of all parties, the
election campaign, and the principle of equality and equal media
representation of all parties, their candidates and programmes.
According to Seks, the election bill is based on two key elements - a
proposal by an expert group which has drawn up the basic principles
of the law and the agreement between the HDZ, Opposition Six and
other opposition parties on the election law.
The HDZ's intention was for all parties or a majority of them to draw
up a joint bill on the election of MPs, constituencies and Croatian
Radio-Television (HRT), but this did not happen because the
Opposition Six put unacceptable demands before the HDZ although a
consensus had actually been reached with the May agreement, Seks
said.
"I believe that the parliamentary procedure will show that there
are no fundamental differences between the HDZ and the Opposition
as regards the election bill", he added.
According to Seks, the new election bill is aimed at securing all
preconditions for a fair election, with a protection mechanism
which guarantees the stability of political authority and its
components, its effectiveness and as high as possible a level of
people's representation.
The election bill is based on proportionate representation and the
division of the country into nine constituencies (each
constituency elects 12 representatives), plus the tenth
constituency for the Diaspora, in which the number of MPs would be
determined on the basis of the so-called non-fixed quota. The
election threshold would be five per cent and it would be the same
for parties and coalitions, Seks said. He added the election bill
contained a regulation enabling non-government organisations to
monitor the course of the elections, as well as a regulation on
financing the election campaign.
The bill is on a very high level of democratic solutions and secures
equal competition of political parties in the election campaign,
Seks said.
Speaking about the minority vote, Seks said minorities have the
right (in special constituencies) to elect a total of five
representatives, with proportionate representation of all
minority members being taken care of.
Asked about the treatment of Croatian Serb refugees, Seks said that
according to the bill, all Croatian citizens of age have the right
to vote, which means that the Serb refugees would first have to
solve the question of citizenship. Minorities have the right to
choose between voting in the special election unit or in one of the
nine other constituencies.
Asked whether Serbs with Croatian citizenship living outside of
Croatia can be considered to represent the Diaspora, Seks said they
were not part of the Diaspora and that general principles applied to
them. Members of the Croat people living outside of Croatia are
believed to represent the Diaspora, he said.
(hina) jn rml