CROATIAN PARLIAMENT
Pursuant to Article 89 of the Constitution of the
DECISION
ON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LAW ON
THE ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE REPRESENTATIVE BODIES OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL
SELF-GOVERNMENT UNITS
I hereby proclaim the Law on the Election of Members
of the Representative Bodies of Local and Regional Self-government Units, adopted
by the Croatian Parliament at its session held on
Number: 01-081-01-1101/2
President
of the
Stjepan Mesic,
signed
LAW
ON THE ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE
REPRESENTATIVE BODIES OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL SELF-GOVERNMENT UNITS
I GENERAL PROVISIONS
This Law shall regulate the election of members of the
municipal and town councils, as well as the county assemblies and the City
Assembly of the City of Zagreb (hereinafter: representative bodies) of the
local self-government units and regional self-government units (hereinafter:
units).
Members of the representative bodies shall be elected
by the Croatian citizens who have turned 18 years of age, with the permanent
residence in the area of the unit for the representative body of which the
elections are conducted.
A person being nominated and elected as a member of a
unit’s representative body shall be a Croatian citizen, over 18 years of age,
with permanent residence in the area of the unit, for the representative body
of which the elections are conducted.
Members of the representative bodies shall be elected
in direct elections (hereinafter: elections), by secret ballot.
It shall not be possible to recall the members of representative
bodies, and their rights and obligations shall commence on the day the
representative body is constituted.
It shall not be possible to call the members of
representative bodies to criminal and offence account for the words spoken, or
for voting in the work of representative bodies.
The mandate of members of representative bodies
elected at regular elections shall last until the announcement of the decision
of the Government of the Republic of Croatia on calling the elections or until
the announcement of the decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia
on the dissolution of a representative body, in compliance with the law which
regulates local and regional self-government.
The mandate of members of representative bodies
elected at early elections shall last until the expiration of the running
mandate of the representative bodies elected at regular elections.
Regular elections shall be held on the third Sunday of
the month of May, every four years.
Elections for members of representative bodies of the
units shall be called by the Government of the
In case the mandate has ceased due to the dissolution
of a representative body, in accordance with a special law, the early elections
shall be held within 60 days from the day of dissolution.
Not less than 30 or more than 60 days may pass from
the day of calling the elections until the election day.
When a representative body was dissolved in the
calendar year in which the regular elections are held, and before they are
held, the early elections shall not be called and held in that unit.
A member of the representative body of one unit may not
at the same time be a member of another unit’s representative body, or a member
of the authorities of the same unit.
A member of a unit’s representative body may not at
the same time be a judge, a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Croatia, Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Vice President of the
Government of the Republic of Croatia, Public Prosecutor, Deputy Public
Prosecutor, Public Attorney, Deputy Public Attorney, Ombudsman, Deputy
Ombudsman, minister, deputy minister, assistant minister, ministry’s secretary,
head of a state administration organisation, deputy head of a state
administration organisation, Head of the Office of the Government of the
Republic of Croatia, an officer or a non-commissioned officer of the armed forces,
who is, as a military commander of the Croatian Army, appointed and relieved of
duty by the President of the Republic, a head of office or an employee in the
administration bodies and services of the same unit, a member of the management
of a trading company in the majority ownership of the unit, or the director of
an institution founded by the unit.
A person performing some of the incompatible duties
may be nominated as a candidate for a member of the representative body of a
unit, but in case he is elected as a member of the representative body, he
shall be obliged to declare on the occasion of constituting the representative
body whether he shall accept the duty of a member or continue with the
performance of the incompatible duty, in which case his mandate shall be
suspended, and his deputy shall replace him, in accordance with the provisions
of this Law.
The mandate of the member of a representative body,
who during the mandate accepts to perform a duty deemed incompatible according
to the provisions of this Law, shall be suspended while performing the
incompatible duty, and during that time, he shall be replaced by his deputy, in
accordance with the provisions of this Law.
The member of a representative body, who accepts to
perform an incompatible duty, shall be obliged to inform the chairman of the
representative body thereof within 8 days from the acceptance of the duty.
After ceasing to perform an incompatible duty, the
member of a representative body shall continue performing the duty in the
representative body pursuant to the termination of the mandate’s suspension, on
condition that he submits a written request to the chairman of the
representative body within 8 days from ceasing to perform the incompatible
duty. The suspension of the mandate of a representative body’s member shall
cease on the eighth day from the day of submission of the written request.
The request to continue performing the duty of a
member of a representative body pursuant to the termination of mandate’s suspension,
may be filed once in the duration of the mandate.
The mandate of a representative body’s member shall
cease before the expiration of the regular four-year mandate in the following
cases:
o
if he submits a resignation, on the day of
the delivery of the letter of resignation, according to the rules on delivery
stipulated by the Law on General Administrative Procedure,
o
if his business capacity is taken away, or
limited, by an effective court decision, on the day of coming into effect of
the court decision,
o
if he has been sentenced to an
unconditional prison sentence in the duration of more than 6 months, by an
effective court verdict, on the day of coming into effect of the court verdict,
o
if the reasons due to which he could not
have been elected as a member of the representative body, are learned
subsequently, on the day when the Constitutional Court passes the decision,
o
if he de-registers the permanent residence
in the unit’s area, on the day of de-registration of the permanent residence,
o
if his Croatian citizenship has ceased,
according to he provisions of the law which regulates Croatian citizenship, on
the day of its cessation,
o
by death.
Members of representative bodies shall have their
deputies, who shall perform that duty in case the mandate of a member of a
representative body has been suspended or has ceased before the expiration of
the term to which he was elected.
The member of a representative body elected on a party
slate shall be replaced by the non-elected candidate from the same slate the
member was elected from, being determined by the political party which is the
proponent of the slate.
The member of a representative body elected on a
coalition slate of two or more political parties shall be replaced by the non-elected
candidate from the same slate the member was elected from, being determined by
the political party, to which the member of the representative body whose
mandate has ceased belonged at the moment of the elections.
Statutes of local and regional self-government units
shall determine the number of members of representative bodies from among the
Croatian citizens, members of ethnic and national communities or minorities, in
accordance with the proportional share of their members in the total population
of the unit.
The provision of Paragraph 1 of this Article shall
also be adequately applied to the representation of members of the Croatian
people in the units in which members of ethnic and national communities or
minorities comprise the majority of population.
The freedom of choice of the voters and secrecy of
voting shall be guaranteed.
No one may be held responsible due to his voting or
non-voting.
No one may request a voter to announce his voting
choice.
II CANDIDACY
The slates for the election of members of
representative bodies shall be proposed by the political parties registered in
the Republic of Croatia and by the voters.
Political parties shall establish and propose the
slates for the election of members of representative bodies in the manner
stipulated by their statutes or by a special decision, passed on the basis of
the statutes.
While composing the slates, the proponents shall be
obliged to take care of the principle of gender equality.
Two or more political parties registered in the
Republic of Croatia may propose a coalition slate for the election of members
of a representative body.
When voters propose an independent slate of candidates
as authorised proponents, they shall be obliged to collect the following for
the validity of the slate:
o
100 signatures for a municipal slate,
o
150 signatures for a town slate,
o
500 signatures for a county slate or the
slate for the election of members of the City Assembly of the City of Zagreb.
The first three signatories of an independent slate of
candidates shall be the submitters of the registration of the independent
slate.
Signatures of voters shall be collected on a
stipulated form in which the name and family name, address and personal
identification number of each signed proponent shall be entered.
Proposals of slates of candidates shall be forwarded
to the competent electoral commission of the unit for the representative body
of which the elections are conducted, at the latest within 12 days from the day
of calling the elections.
The name of a slate shall be stated with the full name
of the party, or parties of the coalition, and the abbreviated name of the
party or parties or the party coalition which proposed the slate shall also be
stated, if such exists. Should the slate of candidates be proposed by a group
of voters, its name shall be "independent municipal slate",
"independent town slate", "independent county slate" or
"independent slate of the City of Zagreb".
The leader of a slate shall be the first proposed
candidate on the slate.
Proposals of slates of candidates shall mandatorily
contain the names and family names of candidates, ethnicity, addresses, and the
unique personal identification numbers of candidates proposed on the slate. The
declarations of all candidates on accepting the candidacy, verified by a notary
public or the competent electoral commission, shall also be forwarded with the
slates.
Besides the data as per previous Paragraph, it shall
be mandatory to state the name of the slate in the proposal of the slate, and
the candidates on the slate shall be listed, starting with the ordinal number
1. to, conclusively, the ordinal number corresponding to the number of members
of the representative body being elected at the elections. The proponent of a
slate shall freely determine the sequence of candidates on the slate.
If a slate of candidates becomes incomplete after
submission, due to the death of a proposed candidate, his name shall be deleted
from the slate, and the slate shall be considered complete.
The competent electoral commission shall compile and
announce in the mass media all validly proposed slates for the election of
members of representative bodies, as well as the collective slate, within 48
hours from the expiration of the deadline stipulated for the procedure of
candidacy and submission of slates.
The slates of candidates shall be entered into the
collective slate in the alphabetical order according to the full name of the
political party or coalition which proposed the slate. In case more parties
proposed a coalition slate of candidates, it shall be entered in the collective
slate according to the name of the first party in order in the proposal.
All political parties which proposed the slates and
leaders or other representatives of independent slates shall have the right to
present and explain their electoral programmes and the right to electoral
campaign under equal conditions.
The electoral campaign shall commence on the day of
announcing the collective slate of candidates and shall last until 24 hours,
conclusively, before the day on which the elections are held.
Local public information outlets shall be obliged to
enable the political parties and leaders or other representatives of
independent slates participating in the elections, to present and explain their
electoral programmes and carry out the electoral campaign without obstacles,
under equal conditions.
During the entire day preceding the election day, as
well as on the election day until 21 hours, conclusively, any kind of electoral
campaigning, as well as any publishing of the previous results or evaluations
of the electoral results, shall be forbidden.
Political parties and leaders of independent slates,
who gain a minimum of one member in a representative body at the elections,
shall be entitled to the compensation of the electoral campaign expenses.
The amount of the compensation shall be determined by
the Government of the Republic of Croatia, 20 days before the elections, at the
latest. The decision of the Government on the amount of the compensation shall
also be applied to early elections.
III ELECTION OF THE MEMBERS OF
REPRESENTATIVE BODIES
The number of members of the representative body of a
unit shall be stipulated by the unit’s statute, in compliance with the law.
In case the number of members of the representative
body of a unit is not stipulated by the statute, the number of members
stipulated by the law which regulates local and regional self-government shall
be elected into the representative body.
The members of representative bodies shall be elected
by the proportional electoral method, in such a manner that a unit’s entire
area shall comprise one constituency. All voters having permanent residence in
the area of that unit who come to the polls, shall elect, on the basis of the
slates of candidates, all members of the unit’s representative body.
The number of members of the representative body of a
unit being elected from each slate of candidates shall be determined in such a
manner that the total number of valid votes received by the slate of candidates
of the unit (the electorate of a slate) shall be divided by numbers from 1 to,
conclusively, the number corresponding to the number of members of the
representative body being elected at the elections. Out of all results, the
last result in order shall be the common divisor by which the total number of
votes of each slate of candidates (the electorate of a slate) shall be divided.
Each slate of candidates shall receive the number of seats in the
representative body corresponding to how many times the common divisor is
contained in the total number of its received votes (the electorate).
If the valid votes are divided in such a manner that
it is not possible to determine which one of two or more slates would receive
one seat or one more seat in a representative body, it shall belong to the
slate which received more votes.
The slates which gained a minimum of 5% of valid votes
shall have the right to participate in the division of seats in the
representative body of a unit.
The elected candidates from each slate of candidates
shall be the ones from ordinal number 1. to the ordinal number corresponding to
the number of seats in the representative body of a unit that a certain slate
has received.
IV BODIES FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE
ELECTIONS
The bodies for conduct of the elections shall be the
State Electoral Commission, electoral commissions in the units and the voting
committees.
Municipal electoral commissions and voting committees
shall conduct the elections for members of the municipal councils.
Town electoral commissions and voting committees shall
conduct the elections for members of the town councils.
County electoral commissions, municipal or town
electoral commissions and voting committees shall conduct the elections for
members of the county assemblies.
The City Electoral Commission of the City of Zagreb
and voting committees shall conduct the elections for members of the City
Assembly of the City of Zagreb.
Only the persons with the right to vote may be the
members of electoral commissions and voting committees, as well as their
deputies.
The members of electoral commissions and voting
committees, as well as their deputies, shall have the right to compensation for
their work.
The State Electoral Commission of the Republic of
Croatia shall stipulate the forms in the procedure of candidacy and conduct of
the elections, pass the mandatory instructions for the work of electoral
commissions and directly supervise the work of county electoral commissions and
the City Electoral Commission of the City of Zagreb.
The State Electoral Commission shall have the
permanent and extended composition.
The permanent composition of the State Electoral
Commission shall comprise the chairman and four members, as well as their
deputies. The duty of the chairman of the State Electoral Commission shall be
performed according to the position, by the president of the Supreme Court of
the Republic of Croatia, and the other members of the permanent composition of
the State Electoral Commission shall be appointed by the Constitutional Court
of the Republic of Croatia, from among the judges of the Supreme Court of the
Republic of Croatia and other distinguished lawyers, who may not be political
party members.
The extended composition of the State Electoral
Commission shall be determined upon accepting, determining and announcing
electoral slates, and it shall comprise three representatives each of the
political party or coalition with the majority, and three representatives of
opposition parties or coalitions, proposed in agreement, according to the party
composition of the Croatian Parliament, as well as their deputies. Should the
agreement on the three political parties’ representatives and their deputies
not be reached, they shall be elected by dice from among the proposed
candidates, before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia.
All members of the State Electoral Commission shall
have equal rights and obligations.
The municipal, town and county electoral commissions,
as well as the City Electoral Commission of the City of Zagreb shall have
permanent and extended compositions.
The permanent composition of the electoral commission
of a unit shall comprise the chairman and two members, as well as their
deputies. The chairmen of electoral commissions shall be graduate lawyers.
The extended compositions of electoral commissions
shall be determined upon accepting, determining and announcing the slates for
the election of members of the representative body of a unit for the
representative body of which the elections are conducted, and it shall consist
of two representatives each of the political party or coalition with the
majority, and two representatives of opposition parties or coalitions, proposed
in agreement, according to the party composition of the representative body of
a unit. Should the agreement on two representatives of political parties and
their deputies not be reached, they shall be elected by dice from among the
proposed candidates.
The election of the extended compositions of the
municipal and town electoral commissions shall be performed before the county
electoral commission, and the election of the extended compositions of county
electoral commissions, before the State Electoral Commission.
All members of an electoral commission shall have
equal rights and obligations.
The State Electoral Commission shall appoint the
permanent compositions of county electoral commissions and of the City
Electoral Commission of the City of Zagreb.
The county electoral commissions shall appoint the
permanent compositions of municipal or town electoral commissions in their
areas.
Municipal and town electoral commissions shall:
o
provide for the lawful preparation and conduct
of elections for the members of the municipal or town councils,
o
appoint the members of voting committees
for the municipal, town or county elections,
o
determine the polling stations for the
municipal, town or county elections,
o
supervise the work of voting committees,
o
perform all technical preparations for
holding the elections in their areas,
o
on the basis of a valid proposal, announce
municipal or town slates and compile a collective municipal or town slate,
o
supervise the regularity of electoral
campaigns for the municipal or town elections, in compliance with this Law,
o
compile and add up the voting results at
the polling stations in their areas and, in the case of county elections,
forward them to the county electoral commission,
o
announce the results of municipal or town
elections, and
o
perform other tasks determined by this
Law.
The City Electoral Commission of the City of Zagreb
shall:
o
provide for the lawful preparation and
conduct of the elections for the members of the City Assembly of the City of
Zagreb,
o
appoint the members of voting committees
for the election of members of the City Assembly of the City of Zagreb and the
county elections,
o
determine the polling stations,
o
supervise the work of voting committees,
o
perform all technical preparations for
holding the elections in its area,
o
on the basis of a valid proposal, announce
the city slates for the election of members of the City Assembly of the City of
Zagreb and compile the collective slate for the election of members of the City
Assembly of the City of Zagreb,
o
supervise the regularity of the electoral
campaign for the election of members of the City Assembly of the City of
Zagreb, in compliance with this Law,
o
compile and add up the voting results at the
polling stations in its area,
o
announce the election results for the
members of the City Assembly of the City of Zagreb,
o
perform other tasks determined by this
Law.
The County Electoral Commission shall:
o
provide for the lawful preparation and
conduct of the elections for the members of a county assembly,
o
supervise the work of the municipal and
town electoral commissions,
o
on the basis of a valid proposal, announce
the county slates and compile the collective slate of the county slates,
o
supervise the regularity of the electoral
campaign, in compliance with this Law,
o
announce the election results for the
members of a county assembly,
o
perform other tasks determined by this
Law.
Voting committees shall be appointed for each polling
station with the aim of direct conduct of voting and ensuring the regularity
and secrecy of voting.
A voting committee shall consist of a chairman and his
deputy, and two members and their deputies.
The competent electoral commission of a unit shall
appoint the chairman, members and their deputies, not later than five days
prior to the day on which the elections are held.
The chairman of a voting committee and his deputy
should be, as a rule, from the ranks of the legal profession.
V CONDUCT OF THE ELECTIONS
Voting for the election of members of the
representative body of a unit shall be performed in the polling stations in the
area of a municipality, town and the City of Zagreb.
The competent electoral commissions shall announce the
polling stations which have been determined, with an indication which voters
shall have the right to vote at certain polling stations, not later than eight
days before the elections.
The competent electoral commissions shall determine
the polling stations depending on the number of voters, or spatial distance, in
such a manner that the number of voters at one polling station enables voting
of all voters within the timeframe determined for voting. Each polling station
shall have its ordinal number determined.
For each polling station, a special room shall be
determined for voting, arranged and equipped in the manner securing the secrecy
of voting.
In each polling station, all slates of candidates
shall be visibly exposed, with the clearly stated names of all the candidates
for the representative body of the unit for which the elections are held.
The political parties and voters who proposed the
slates for the election of members of the representative body of a unit, as
well as the non-governmental associations and international organisations,
shall have the right to appoint monitors to monitor the conduct of elections
during the entire electoral procedure.
A monitor shall have the right to be present during
the voting and counting of votes, warn about the observed irregularities and
request for the elimination thereof, as well as to include his remarks into the
electoral body’s record. A monitor shall have the right to obtain a copy of the
electoral body’s record, the work of which he monitored.
The State Electoral Commission shall determine in more
detail the rights and obligations of monitors and the manner of observing the
conduct of elections by mandatory instructions.
VI VOTING AND DETERMINATION OF
ELECTION RESULTS
Voting shall be performed personally at a polling
station, with a ballot.
A ballot shall be printed in a state printing-house,
under the direct supervision of the State Electoral Commission, and marked with
a serial number.
A ballot for voting for the slate of candidates of a
unit shall contain:
o
name of the slate,
o
name and family name of the slate’s
leader,
o
serial number.
Slates of candidates of a unit shall be stated on the
ballot in the order in which they were stated on the collective slate of the
slates of candidates of a unit.
An ordinal number shall be placed before the name of
the slate.
One shall vote only for the slates of candidates
stated on the ballot.
A ballot shall be filled out in such a manner that the
ordinal number is encircled before the name of the slate of candidates, which
is the subject of voting.
A valid ballot shall be the ballot filled out in such
a manner that it can be safely and undoubtedly determined for which slate of
candidates the voter voted.
The following shall be considered invalid ballots:
o
an unfilled ballot,
o
a ballot filled out in such a manner that
it cannot be safely determined for which slate the voter voted,
o
a ballot on which the voter voted for two
or more slates of candidates.
Voting shall last without interruption from seven
until nineteen hours, when the polling stations shall be closed. The voters who
happen to be at the polling stations at nineteen hours shall be allowed to
vote.
All members of the voting committee or their deputies
shall be present at a polling station during the voting.
No one may come to a polling station armed.
The chairman of a voting committee shall be obliged to
provide for the maintenance of peace and order during the voting, and shall be
authorised, in case of a need, to order the voter who obstructs peace and
order, or is rendering impossible or hindering the voting of others, to leave
the polling station.
The chairman of a voting committee shall be authorised
to request assistance of the police. The official persons of the police, from
whom the assistance was requested, may, exceptionally to Paragraph 1 of this
Article, carry weapons.
Before a voter approaches voting, the chairman of a
voting committee, or a member authorised by him, shall check in the voters’
register whether the voter who has approached voting is registered.
In case it is established that a voter is not
registered in the voters’ register, he shall not be allowed to vote, unless he
proves with a certificate of the body in charge of keeping the voters’ register
that he is entitled to approach voting in that unit.
A voter shall be obliged to submit the certificate as
per Paragraph 2 of this Article to the voting committee and it shall comprise
an integral part of the electoral material.
A voter, who could not vote independently due to a
physical handicap or illiteracy, may come to the polling station with another
person, who is literate, and who shall, upon his authority and instruction,
encircle the ordinal number before the slate’s name.
A voter, who is not able to approach the polling
station due to a serious illness, bodily injury or incapacity, shall inform the
voting committee thereof. The chairman of the voting committee shall determine
at least two members of the voting committee or deputies, who shall visit the
voter at his location and enable him to vote, taking care of the secrecy of
voting in the process.
The chairman of a voting committee shall be obliged to
enter, name by name, the voting of voters with physical handicaps, illiterate
voters, as well as the voting outside the polling station upon prior
notification of voters, into the record on the work of the voting committee.
After the voting has been completed, the voting
committee shall first count the unused ballots and put them into a special
envelope, which shall be closed.
After that, the voting committee shall establish,
according to the voters’ register or an excerpt from the voters’ register, and
on the basis of the record, the total number of the voters who voted and
approach the opening of the ballot box and counting the votes.
If, during the counting of votes at a polling station,
it is determined that the number of votes according to the voters’ register is
higher than the number of votes according to the ballots, the voting result
according to the ballots shall be valid.
If, during the counting of votes at a polling station,
it is established that a smaller number of voters voted than the number of
votes in the ballot box, the voting committee shall be dissolved and a new one
appointed, and the voting in that polling station shall be repeated after 15
days. In case of the repeated voting, its result at that polling station shall
be established within 24 hours after the repeated voting has taken place.
After a voting committee has established the voting
result in a polling station, it shall note the following in the record on its
work:
o
the number of voters according to the
voters’ register or the excerpt from the voters’ register,
o
how many voters approached voting
according to the register, and how many with the certificate,
o
how many voters voted in total,
o
how many votes each of the candidates’
slates received, and
o
how many ballots were declared invalid.
All other facts relevant for voting shall also be
entered into the record on the work of a voting committee.
Each member of a voting committee, as well as deputies
may give their remarks for the record.
The record shall be signed by all members of a voting
committee.
Voting committees shall forward the records on their
work and other electoral material to the electoral commissions of
municipalities or towns, within 12 hours from the closing of polling stations,
at the latest.
The electoral commission of a municipality, town, or
the City of Zagreb shall determine the voting results at the polling stations
in its area within 24 hours from the hour of closing the polling stations, at
the latest.
In case of the elections for a county assembly, the
electoral commission of a municipality or town shall forward the election
results from its area, together with the record on its work, to the competent
county electoral commission, which shall determine the manner and the period of
time within which this shall be done.
The electoral commission of a municipality, town or
the City of Zagreb shall make the record on its work, in which it shall note:
o
the number of voters entered into the
voters’ register, or the excerpt from the voters’ register in its area,
o
the number of voters who voted and number
of ballots proclaimed invalid,
o
the number of votes that each candidates’
slate of a unit received in its area.
Each member of the electoral commission of a
municipality, town or the City of Zagreb, as well as their deputies, may place
remarks to the record. The record shall be signed by all members of the
electoral commission of a unit.
The election results for the members of the
representative body of a unit shall be determined by the competent electoral
commission of the unit on the basis of the voting results at all polling
stations in the unit.
When the electoral commission of a unit, or of the
City of Zagreb has determined the voting results for the members of a
representative body, it shall immediately announce:
o
the number of voters entered into the
voters’ register of the unit,
o
how many votes each individual candidates’
slate received,
o
how many invalid ballots were there,
o
the number of seats in the representative
body of the unit received by each candidates’ slate and
o
the names and family names of the
candidates from each candidates’ slate who were elected members of the
representative body of the unit.
VII EXPENSES FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE
ELECTIONS
The funds for the conduct of regular and early
elections of the members of representative bodies shall be provided from the
unit’s budget.
The funds for the conduct of the elections in a unit
shall be disposed of by the electoral commission of that unit. The electoral
commission shall be authorised to determine the manner of spending the funds,
conduct supervision over their distribution and use, and allocate necessary
funds to the voting committees.
VIII PROTECTION OF THE ELECTORAL
RIGHT
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia
shall conduct the general supervision of constitutionality and legality of the
election for members of representative bodies of units and resolve disputes in
accordance with the provisions of this Law.
Objections due to irregularities in the candidacy
procedure may be submitted by a political party which proposed a slate, two or
more political parties which proposed a coalition slate, as well as by the
leaders of independent slates.
Objections due to irregularities in the electoral
procedure may only be submitted by those political parties whose slates were
the subject of voting at the elections, as well as leaders of independent
slates which were the subject of voting.
If a slate was proposed by several political parties,
an objection shall be considered valid also in case if it is submitted by only
one political party.
Political parties shall determine who shall be
considered an authorised submitter of objections on the basis of their
statutes.
Leaders of independent slates shall submit objections
personally.
Objections due to irregularities in the procedure of
candidacy and election of members of municipal and town councils shall be
resolved by the County Electoral Commissions.
Objections due to irregularities in the procedure of
candidacy and election of the members of county assemblies and the City Assembly
of the City of Zagreb shall be resolved by the State Electoral Commission.
Objections due to irregularities in the procedure of
candidacy and election of members of the representative body of a unit shall be
submitted to the competent electoral commission within 48 hours, counting from
the expiration of the day when the activity to which the objection was posed
was performed.
The competent electoral commission shall be obliged to
adopt the decision on an objection within 48 hours from the day of receiving
the objection, or from the day of receiving the electoral materials to which
the objection refers.
Should the competent electoral commission, while
deciding on an objection, establish the occurrence of irregularities which fundamentally
affected the election results, it shall annul the activities in that procedure
and determine that those activities be repeated within the term which shall
ensure the holding of the elections on the day for which they were called.
If there is no possibility of repeating the annulled
activities referred to in the previous Paragraph or if the irregularities
pertain to the voting procedure, and they fundamentally affected the election
results, the competent electoral commission shall annul the elections and
determine the deadline in which the repeated elections shall be held.
The submitter of an objection who is dissatisfied with
a decision of the competent electoral commission, shall be entitled to appeal
against such a decision to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia.
The appeal from the previous Paragraph shall be
submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia within 48
hours, counting from the day of receipt of the disputed decision.
The appeal shall be submitted through the competent
electoral commission.
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia
shall be obliged to adopt a decision on the appeal within 48 hours from the day
of the receipt of the appeal.
A submitted objection, or appeal, in the procedure of
protection of the voting right, shall not postpone the performance of the
electoral activities stipulated by this Law.
If it is established during the representative body’s
mandate that its individual member was not fulfilling a condition for the
candidacy or election stipulated by this Law in the procedure of candidacy or
election, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia shall pass a
decision by which it shall determine the cessation of his mandate, within 30 days
from the receipt of the proposal.
The proposal for passing the decision of the
Constitutional Court as per Paragraph 1 of this Article may be given by a
political party or leader of an independent slate, which participated in the
elections for the representative body.
The submissions and decisions in the procedure
pursuant to the provisions of this Law shall be exempt from fees.
IX INTERIM AND FINAL PROVISIONS
The first, constitutive session of the representative
bodies of the units shall be convened within 30 days from the day of the
announcement of the electoral results.
The constitutive sessions of municipal and town
councils shall be convened by the head of the central state administration
body, competent for the tasks of local and regional self-government, or by a
person authorised by him.
The constitutive sessions of county assemblies and the
Assembly of the City of Zagreb shall be convened by the Government of the
Republic of Croatia.
If the constitutive session is not held within the
scheduled deadline, the authorised convener shall immediately convene a new
constitutive session, which should be held within 15 days.
The constitutive session of a representative body
shall, until the election of a chairman, be chaired by its eldest member.
At the regular elections 2001, the proponents of
slates shall, while compiling the slates, acknowledge the principle of the
adequate representation of the minority population, taking into account the
local circumstances.
In case the proportional representation of the
national minorities’ representatives in the local self-government units,
proportional to their share in the total population, is not achieved at the
elections, the additional elections shall be conducted within 90 days after the
results of the 2001 census are published.
If the participation of national minority members in
the representative body is stipulated by the statute of a local and regional
self-government unit, those provisions of the statute shall be applied,
regardless of whether the statute is conformed with the provisions of this Law.
By the announcement of the Decision of the Government
of the Republic of Croatia, on calling the elections for the members of
representative bodies of local and regional self-government units in 2001,
passed pursuant to this Law, the mandates of members of representative bodies
of local self-government units and regional self-government units, elected at
the elections held on 13 April 1997 and later on, shall cease.
The funds for the conduct of the first elections for
members of representative bodies of the newly formed local self-government
units and regional self-government units, which do not have their own budgets,
shall be provided from the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.
By coming into effect of this Law, the Law on the
Election of Members of Representative Bodies of the Local Self-government Units
and Local Administration and Self-government Units ("Official
Gazette", 90/92, 69/95, 59/96, 63/96 and 64/00) and the Law on the
Constituencies for the Election of Members of Representative Bodies of the
Local Self-government Units and Local Administration and Self-government Units
("Official Gazette", 14/97, 20/97, 22/97, 24/97, 32/97, 37/97, 75/99,
91/99, 35/00 and 44/00) shall cease to be valid.
This Law shall come into effect on the day of its
publication in the "Official Gazette."
Class: 015-01/01-01/01
Zagreb, 6 April 2001
CROATIAN PARLIAMENT
Speaker
of the Croatian Parliament
Zlatko Tomcic, signed