CROATIAN LOWER HOUSE BEGINS DISCUSSION ON ELECTORAL LAW

ZAGREB Sept 23 (Hina) - The Croatian National Parliament House of Representatives on Thursday began a discussion on the ruling Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) draft electoral law and law on electoral units. The motioned draft guarantees freedoms, democratic and fair elections, HDZ parliament bench president Vladimir Seks said. The law, along with the law on electoral units and the Parliament's decision on the rules of party presentations on the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), should at a normative level guarantee air and free elections for the Croatian parliament House of representatives, Seks said. He stressed the bill had been harmonised with chief opposition parties except regarding issues on representatives of national minorities. "Despite the fact that it had not been submitted as a joint project of all political parties, as there had been misunderstandings concerning other issues, (the bill) was significantly harmonised with a May agreement reached by the HDZ and the opposition six," Seks said. Some of the basic starting points of the bill are the application of a pure proportional electoral system, the division to several electoral units (nine in Croatia and the tenth for Croatian citizens who are not residents of Croatia), a unified prohibitive clause of five per cent, an elaborated principle on multi-party electoral committees and electoral commissions at all levels, which should enable a multi-party control of the electoral process and the establishment of the financing of parties out of the government budget, Seks said. Seks described as one of the most delicate issues the representation of national minorities and the question how to enable smaller national minorities who are in groups with bigger minorities to be represented in the Parliament. As a solution to the issue, suggested was a rotating mandate. However, this solution is constitutionally very doubtful, Seks said, adding a more law-based solution must be sought. Seks called on MPs to exert great efforts to overcome differences which have occurred surrounding the entire electoral legislature. (hina) lml jn