ZAGREB, Dec 6 (Hina) - The international community believed the introduction of the non-fixed quota for the Diaspora vote was a very good solution to a serious problem, and a possible decision on returning the fixed quota would cause
grave concern, the OSCE Mission's spokesman in Zagreb, Peter Palmer, told Hina in a phone interview on Monday. According to Palmer, the OSCE had welcomed the introduction of the non-fixed quota as a step in the right direction in resolving an important problem, and giving up that decision would certainly cause grave concern. Palmer recalled that the issue of the quota had been one of the most important issues for the international community, since, under a previously set fixed quota, the votes of voters living outside of Croatia were valued more than those of voters living in Croatia, which was neither fair nor satisfactory. The OSCE Mission spokesman also reiterated
ZAGREB, Dec 6 (Hina) - The international community believed the
introduction of the non-fixed quota for the Diaspora vote was a very
good solution to a serious problem, and a possible decision on
returning the fixed quota would cause grave concern, the OSCE
Mission's spokesman in Zagreb, Peter Palmer, told Hina in a phone
interview on Monday.
According to Palmer, the OSCE had welcomed the introduction of the
non-fixed quota as a step in the right direction in resolving an
important problem, and giving up that decision would certainly
cause grave concern.
Palmer recalled that the issue of the quota had been one of the most
important issues for the international community, since, under a
previously set fixed quota, the votes of voters living outside of
Croatia were valued more than those of voters living in Croatia,
which was neither fair nor satisfactory.
The OSCE Mission spokesman also reiterated that the election date -
January 3 - was "extremely unusual and virtually unknown in
European practice", not disputing that setting the election date
was exclusively within the powers of the President of the Republic,
or, in the current situation, of the acting President of the
Republic.
This, Palmer believes, will not prevent international observers,
who are led by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR), from performing their duties.
Palmer reiterated the need to enable all Croatian citizens to
exercise their right to vote under equal conditions, regardless of
their current place of residence, such as Bosnia-Herzegovina and
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
"There is a large number of Croatian citizens, especially in the
FRY, great many of whom have not yet confirmed their citizenship; it
is important that all those who are Croatian citizens, with the
right to Croatian citizenship, should have the opportunity to be
able to confirm citizenship so that they are able to register... and
to exercise their right to vote", Palmer said.
"This is something which has been put as a very important issue to
the Croatian Government on a number of occasions... indications are
that this has not been acted upon", said Palmer.
(hina) mm rml