ZAGREB, Oct 26 (Hina) - The final electoral bill for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Croatia will try to ensure democratic, fair and free elections, Vladimir Seks told the Croatian National Parliament House of Counties on
behalf of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party bench which motioned the bill.
ZAGREB, Oct 26 (Hina) - The final electoral bill for the upcoming
parliamentary elections in Croatia will try to ensure democratic,
fair and free elections, Vladimir Seks told the Croatian National
Parliament House of Counties on behalf of the ruling Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) party bench which motioned the bill. #L#
A just representation, Seks stressed, will be achieved by the
application of a clear proportional representation system which
has been installed into electoral laws in most European countries.
He recalled that during the previous elections in Croatia the ratio
between the first-past-the-post system and the PR system had always
changed in favour of the latter.
The electoral threshold of five per cent, Seks said, disables a
crumbled political representation in the House of Representatives
and instability of the Government.
This principle is the foundation of the final bill compiled from
suggestions and opinions of experts and scientists, as well as
experiences of modern European electoral laws, Seks said.
According to him, the composition of electoral committees and
electoral commissions would enable an effective control of
political parties and candidates in the elections.
Seks said the idea of a rotating mandate for representatives of
minorities has been given up. Croatia is one of three European
countries with an electoral system guaranteeing a seat in
Parliament for national minorities, he stressed.
In the motioned bill, we went with a solution which has its
foundations in the Croatian Constitution that all indigenous
national minorities were equal and that their numbers could not be
the result of a different number of MPs, Seks said, stressing that
in this sense national minorities cannot have any gained rights.
He announced that the principle of positive discrimination
according to which members of national minorities would have a
right to two votes would not be accepted, because it was in contrast
to the constitutional provision about the equality of voting
rights.
The bill elaborates on the system of a multi-party electoral
commission, established compensation of expenses for electoral
campaigns of parties which pass the threshold, ensuring the
protection of electoral rights in line with the highest European
standards, and suggests the introduction of a commission of ethics
and a code of ethics.
As regards the voting of Croatian citizens who do not have residence
in Croatia, the bill envisages the introduction of an unfixed quota
which counts one mandate as an average mandate in an electoral unit
in Croatia.
This guarantees all Croatian citizens equal active and passive
electoral rights notwithstanding their residence and this has been
met with agreement from all parliamentary parties this May, Seks
said.
(hina) lml mm