INITIATIVE TO CALL FOR REFERENDUM ON ELECTION LAW

ZAGREB, Sept 24 (Hina) - Citizens' representatives, 27 in all from Croatia's political, cultural, and public life at a press conference on Friday presented an initiative entitled "Warning to Politicians and Invitation to Citizens", calling for a referendum on the election bill. In an open letter to Croatian politicians it is emphasised that the elections fall into those rare moments when the nations' sovereign will is expressed, and as such they should not be adapted to the interests of any particular party, candidate or listing but to a sovereign nation, i.e. citizen. The choice of election model, the initiative notes, is not a neutral expert issue which gives party leaders the right to silent negotiations. The organisers of the initiative believe laws such as the electoral law which in their effect are close in significance to the Constitution, should be adopted on the basis of a referendum even though now it is too late for such a referendum. They believe a referendum is better than imposing an agreement or even imposing unilateral solutions. Evaluating that citizens have less confidence in politicians and parties, the initiators emphasised that "it is not all the same for citizens whether they give their vote to the representative that deserves their confidence or whether their vote will be manipulated by electoral "engineering" - party listings, party camps, which determine who will be elected to the Sabor rather than the citizens themselves. The initiators believe that electoral units must agree with historical and territorial units and should not be changed according to forecasts of better electoral results. (hina) sp