CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ADOPTS HSLS COMPLAINT ON ELECTION CAMPAIGN

ZAGREB, Dec 23 (Hina) - The Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) on Thursday issued a statement saying the Croatian Constitutional Court had adopted its complaint against a decision of the National Electoral Commission regarding irregularities in the electoral campaign. By the Court's decision, the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) is obliged to enable all political parties an equal presentation of their party programmes, not coalition programmes, the statement said. The Court thus established that the decision of the National electoral Committee was in contrast to the Law on Electing MPs, as it was based on a wrong legal interpretation by the Commission that equality in the representation of parties and party coalitions was determined by the identity of the electoral list. This way, the HSLS stressed, the Constitutional Court had in full accepted the HSLS's standpoint according to which every political party, whether it had joined into a coalition or not, had the right to an independent electoral campaign. This is why the party had filed a request to the HRT that it urgently submit free programme time slots so the party could present its programme, the statement said. The Constitutional Court has on December 17 accepted the decision, at the request of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), to strike out a section of the Regulations on the HRT's Conduct During the Electoral Campaign reading: "Parties which appear at elections in coalitions cannot realise rights as individual parties, but only as a coalition of parties". (hina) lml mm