ZAGREB, Sept 18 (Hina) - This week, Croatia's members of parliament have been given, in the first reading, texts of bills on the election of deputies to the Croatian national Sabor and on electoral units for the election of deputies
in the Sabor's House of Representatives.
ZAGREB, Sept 18 (Hina) - This week, Croatia's members of parliament
have been given, in the first reading, texts of bills on the
election of deputies to the Croatian national Sabor and on
electoral units for the election of deputies in the Sabor's House of
Representatives. #L#
According to these bills, proposed by Vladimir Seks on behalf of the
ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) bench, 108 representatives
at the lower house would be elected in nine constituencies. Each
electoral unit will choose 12 deputies on the grounds of
candidates' lists.
The constituencies will have approximately the same number of
eligible voters. The smallest of the nine electoral units is to have
405,044 voters, while the biggest is to have 434,902 .
Voters with no permanent residence in Croatia will choose their
representatives in the special tenth constituency.
The number of representatives of the Croatian Diaspora will be
determined by the so-called unfixed quota, so that the total number
of ballots cast by voters in that special unit would be divided with
the number of ballots that is on average necessary for one seat in
the parliament on the grounds of election results in other nine
constituencies.
According to the proposed election bill, members of native national
minorities will have the right to elect five deputies in the lower
house. Serb, Italian and Hungarian minorities will each have one
representative, while representatives of the Czech and Slovakian
minorities will share one seat so that each of the two will be in the
House of Representative for two years and then replaced by the
other. German, Austrian, Jewish, Ruthenian and Ukrainian
minorities will each have one representative and their deputies
will rotate every nine and a half months in Sabor.
In line with the constitutional principle of the equality of the
voting right, the bill includes a provision under which a member of
a national minority can either elect his/her minority's deputy or
cast a vote for candidates on the list in the electoral unit.
The election bill also stipulates the uniform prohibitive clause of
five percent, i.e. the threshold for entering the parliament.
It also contains provisions for the financing of the pre-election
campaign and defines bodies in charge of the conduct of elections.
It proposes that electoral committees and commissions include
representatives of the ruling and opposition parties on the base of
parity.
An ethical seven-member commission should act in order to help
implement ethical and democratic principles at elections. This
would be an above-party body, headed by the President of the
Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU).
The House of Representatives should also adopt rules for the
Croatian Radio and Television coverage of the run-up not later than
fifteen days after it passes this election bill.
Under the bill on electoral units, there will be a total of
3,788,237 eligible voters in Croatia's nine electoral units.
They have been defined so that the number of voters in each of them
can vary five percent up or down. In addition, municipal and town
administrative boundaries have been respected. This has not been
done only in the case of the City of Zagreb as its electoral body is
by 230,000 voters larger than an average in a constituency. That's
why the proposer has suggested that the City o Zagreb be divided in
three electoral units (in the first, second and sixth).
The first electoral unit is to cover most of Zagreb including
residential areas in Sesvete and Dubrava amounting to 418,577
voters.
The second constituency should go over Sestine, Gracani, Maksimir,
Vrapce, Stara Tresnjevka, Jarun, Spansko along with parts of Zagreb
County and Krapina-Zagorje County amounting to 432,577 voters.
The third unit with 430,846-strong electorate will cover parts of
Krapina-Zagorje County - including Krapina, Klanjec, Kumrovec,
Zlatar - and the entire three counties - Varazdin County,
Koprivnica-Krizevci County and Medjumurje County.
Parts of Bjelovar-Bilogora County, with the town of Bjelovar and
the entire counties: Virovitica-Podravina and Osijek-Baranja.
should constitute the fourth electoral unit with 430,326 voters.
The largest constituency should be the fifth one containing 434.902
voters in parts of Bjelovar-Bilogora County (Daruvar, Cazma,
Garesnica) and another three Slavonian counties: Pozega-Slavonia,
Slavonski Brod-Posavina and Vukovar-Sirmium.
The 418,228-strong sixth electoral unit includes parts of the City
of Zagreb (residential areas south of the Sava River), a part of
Zagreb County (Jastrebarsko, Krasic, Velika Gorica, Zumberak) and
another two counties: Sisak-Moslavina and Karlovac.
The seventh electoral unit with parts of Primorje-Gorski Kotar
County (Rijeka, Opatija, Lovran, Bakar, Cres, Mali Losinj, Cabar,
Delnice and Fuzine) and the entire Istria County will have 405,526
voters.
The other part of Primorje County (Crikvenica, Kraljevica, Krk,
Novi Vinodolski, Rab), a part of Split-Dalmatia County (Sinj and
Trogir) and another three counties: Lika-Senj, Zadar and Sibenik,
will be the eighth electoral unit with the smallest number of voters
(405,044).
The 411,805-strong ninth electoral unit will cover most of Split
County( the city of Split, Imotski, Vrgorac and islands) and the
entire Dubrovnik-Neretva County.
(hina) ms