ACT
ON ELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES TO THE
CROATIAN PARLIAMENT
(consolidated wording)
GENERAL AND
FUNDAMENTAL PROVISIONS
The election (hereinafter:
elections) of representatives to the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) shall be
regulated by this Act.
The mandate
of the representatives elected to the Croatian Parliament (hereinafter:
Parliament) runs for 4 years and can be prolonged only in the case of war, or
in cases form articles 17 and 100 of the Constitution of the
The mandate
of the representatives is not imperative and they are not revocable.
The freedom
of voters to take sides and to secret vote shall be guaranteed.
It shall be
the right and obligation of voters to cast their vote only once.
No one can
request the voters to proclaim their voting orientation.
No one can be
called to account because of voting or for not having voted.
The
representatives in Parliament are being elected on the basis of direct
universal and equal suffrage by all the Croatian citizens with full 18 years of
age, except those who are by legally valid court sentence divested of business
capacity (hereinafter: voters).
A Croatian
citizen with full 18 years of age can be elected for a representative.
The President
of the Republic calls the elections for representatives and Parliament for the
first session.
The elections
day shall be determined by a resolution on election calling.
The elections
day is not a working day.
Since the day
of the calling, until the day of the elections for representatives minimum 30
days must pass.
The elections
are being conducted on polling stations in the territory of the
Voters who
have residence in the
Voters who
have residence in the Republic of Croatia, but on the election day are serving
the armed forces of the Republic of Croatia, voters who are members of the
maritime and river Croatian ships crews, but on the election day are outside
Croatia's borders, and voters divested of freedom, shall vote at special
polling stations, determined in compliance with the provisions of this Act.
Voters who
have residence in the Republic of Croatia, but on the election day are outside
Croatia's borders, shall vote in the diplomatic-consular representative mission
of the Republic of Croatia for representatives of the constituency according to
its place of residence in the Republic of Croatia.
Voters who do
not have residence in the
INCOMPATIBILITY
OF DUTY, SUSPENSION AND CESSATION OF THE REPRESENTATIVE MANDATE, AND
DEPUTIZATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
A
representative, parallel with performing the duty of a representative cannot
perform the following offices: a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Croatia, Attorney General, Deputy of the Attorney General, the People's
Ombudsman, Deputy of the People's Ombudsman, Prime Minister or Deputy Prime
Minister, a Minister or other member of the Government of the Republic of
Croatia, Deputy Minister, Assistant Minister, Director of a State
Administrative Institution, Deputy Director of a State Administrative
Institution, Assistant Director of a State Administrative Institution,
Secretary General of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Secretary
general of a Ministry, Director of a Government's Office or Government's
Agency, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of the
Council for National Security, ambassador, general consul, county head (župan)
or deputy county head (podžupan), the mayor of Zagreb or the deputy mayor of
Zagreb, an active military person, a senior or junior employee in the military
forces, a member of a board of directors of a company, institution or
non-budget fund which is predominantly in the state ownership, and a director
of a legal person that is according to the law obliged to submit reports to the
Parliament.
During
his/her mandate, a representative can accept to fill a post, that is according
to the provisions of this acct incompatible.
During the
filling of an incompatible post, his/her mandate shall be in suspension, and
he/she will be deputized by a deputy, according to the provisions of this Act.
A mandate
shall cease to a representative earlier than the period he/she has been elected
for:
1. if he/she
resigns,
2. if he/she is
by a legally valid court sentence divested of business capacity,
3. if he/she is
by legally valid court sentence sentenced to an unconditional sentence of
prison longer than 6 months,
4. in case of
his/her death.
A
representative whose mandate has ceased, and the representative who has
incompatible parallel offices or mandate suspension on the basis of a written
request, shall be deputized by the deputy representative.
A deputy
representative shall start to fill the representative post after the Parliament
establishes the occurrence of legal preconditions for application of the
institution of deputy.
A
representative elected on a list in the constituency shall be deputized by a non-elected
candidate from the same list, and determined by the political party that has
proposed the list.
A
representative elected on an independent list in the constituency shall be
deputized by the first next non-elected candidate from the list.
A representative
elected in a constituency for election of national minority representatives
shall be deputized by the deputy elected in the same constituency.
After
cessation of filling the incompatible post, the representative proceeds to fill
the post of a representative on the basis of mandate suspension cessation in
the Parliament, if he/she submits a written application to the President of the
Parliament within 8 days from the cessation of filling the incompatible post.
The suspension of the representative's mandate shall stop on the eight day from
the day of filing the written application.
The
proceeding of filling the representative post on the basis of cessation mandate
suspension in the Parliament, can be requested by the representative once
during his/her mandate.
A
representative shall have the right to put his/her mandate to suspension once
during his/her representative's mandate, by submitting a written application to
the President of Parliament.
A suspension
of mandate cannot last less than six month. During that period the
representative shall be deputized by his/her deputy.
A suspension
of representative's mandate shall cease on the eight day from the day when the
representative, who has suspended his/her mandate, has submitted to the
President of Parliament a written statement on the renewed filling his/her
representative's post.
THE RIGHT OF
MEMBERS OF NATIONAL
MINORITIES IN THE
The
The members
of national minorities in the
Members of
the Serbian national minority shall elect three representatives to Parliament
consistent to the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities.
Members of
the Hungarian national minority shall elect one representative to Parliament.
Members of
Italian national minority shall elect one representative to Parliament.
Members of
Czech and Slovakian national minority shall together elect one representative
to Parliament.
Members of
Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Russian,
Turkish, Ukrainian, Vallachian and Jewish national minority shall together
elect one representative to Parliament.
Members of
Albanian, Bosnian, Montenegrian, Macedonian and Slovenian national minority
shall together elect one representative to Parliament.
Members of
national minorities form Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article, beside the
representative candidate shall propose also his/her deputy, who shall be
elected together with him/her.
Members of
national minorities from Paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this Article propose only the
representative candidate, and his/her deputy shall become the representative
candidate who won the next most votes to the elected representative.
The right to
submit proposals for candidates for national minorities and their
representatives have political parties, voters and associations of national
minorities.
If a
representative candidate for a national minority representative and his/her
deputy is being proposed by the voters, for a valid nomination 100 voters'
signatures shall be collected.
The
signatures of voters in the procedure of nomination of representatives and
deputies of national minorities members, who are elected in special
constituencies are to be collected on a required form, where name and family
name, nationality and address of the proposed candidate shall be entered, and
name, family name and address of the undersigned voter-proposer.
THE
NOMINATION
The right to
propose party lists for the election of representatives to Parliament have all
the political parties, that are registered in the
The list for
election of representatives to Parliament can be proposed by one political
party independently or, two or more political parties (a coalition list).
Political
parties determine their party lists and the sequence of candidates on them
independently, in a manner foreseen by their statutes, or in compliance with
special statutory resolutions.
Voters
propose nomination lists on the basis of signatures collected in a legally
valid manner.
For legally
valid proposal of a constituency list for the election of a representative to
Parliament, minimally 500 voters' signatures must be collected.
The proposals
must arrive to the National Election Commission of Republic of Croatia
(hereinafter: National Election Commission) not later than 14 days from the day
of election calling.
In the
constituency list proposal for the election of a representative to Parliament,
the name of the list must be stated, and candidates must be ordered from the
ordinal number 1 to the final number 14.
The name of
the list shall be the name of the political party, or political parties or
coalition that have proposed the list. If the political parties use the
abbreviated name of the party, or parties, or coalition, abbreviations can be
used in the name.
If the list
is proposed by a group of voters, its name is »the independent list«.
The holder of
the list does not need to be a candidate on the list.
One can be a
candidate only on one list and only in one constituency.
The National
Election Commission shall within 48 hours from the delivery of constituency
lists for the election of representatives to Parliament, accept and publish all
the legally valid lists for every constituency in all the daily papers in the
Republic of Croatia and in the Croatian radiotelevsion.
The National
Election Commission shall publish for every constituency a collective list of
all the legally valid lists.
A collective
list contains the name of every list of the constituency, and name and family
name of the holder of each list. A party, or independent list shall be entered
to the collective list according to the alphabetic order of the full name of
the political party, or coalition of political parties proposing the list. If
several political parties have proposed a common list, it shall be entered to
the collective list according to the name of the first political party in the
order of appearance in the proposal.
The National
Election Commission shall within 48 term deliver to Croatian
diplomatic-consular missions all the accepted lists for every constituency, and
the collective list of every constituency for their publishing.
Political
parties that have proposed the accepted lists of candidates for the election of
representatives to Parliament can withdraw of the list in the way foreseen by
their statute or by a special resolution adopted on the basis of the statute,
not later than 48 hours after it has been accepted and as such published by the
election commission of the constituency. For an independent list the resolution
on withdrawal is made by the list holder.
A written
notice on withdrawal must arrive to the election commission of the
constituency.
Withdrawal of
one or more candidates from the list shall not be allowed after acceptance of
list in which they are stated. The withdrawal of some of the candidates shall not
be taken into consideration and such a list shall remain legally valid with
names of all the announced candidates.
Not later
than 48 hours after it has been accepted and published, of the nomination for a
representative to Parliament in constituencies where representatives of
national minorities are being elected, can withdraw:
– an
independent candidate by a written statement authorised by a notary public,
– a candidate
nominated by a political party with a written agreement of a political party
and
– a political
party that has nominated the candidate.
A withdrawal
of candidate from the Paragraph 1 of this Article refers also to their
deputies.
If some of the
candidates on the lists for the election of representatives to Parliament or a
candidate or deputy in constituencies in which representatives of national
minorities are being elected dies in the period since the day of the lists
announcement, the political party, or parties or associations of national
minorities that have nominated that representative, can propose a new candidate
instead of him, or a deputy, without special conditions for validity of
nomination determined by this
Act, up to 10
days before the elections.
If some of
the candidates on lists for election of representatives to Parliament dies
after the period mentioned in the Paragraph 1 of this article, the provision of
the Article 12 of this Act shall be applied accordingly.
THE ELECTION ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGN
The election
advertising campaign shall start on the day of announcement of collective lists
of constituencies, and ends 24 hours before the elections day.
On the election
day until the closing of polling stations, and 24 hours before the election
day, every election advertising is prohibited, publishing of estimations of
election results, and announcement of previous, non-official results of
elections, publishing of photos in means of public communication, statements
and interviews of lists holders, or candidates, and voting of their statements
or written work.
During
election advertising campaign all the political parties that have proposed
their candidate lists have the right to express and explain their election
programmes and election advertising under same conditions.
All the means
of public communication are obliged in their work, to enable the exercise of
rights from Paragraph 1 of this Article to political parties.
In order to
realize equality of all the political parties that have declared lists and
equal possibilities of introducing their programmes and advertising of
political parties, the Parliament shall, within 15 days since the entering into
force of the Act on amendments of the Act on election of representative sot the
Croatian national Parliament (»Narodne novine« Nr. 53/03) adopt Regulations on
proceeding of electronic media with national concession in the Republic of
Croatia during election advertising campaign.
By the
regulations from Paragraph 1 of this Article, forms and time of accompanying
the election advertising of political parties shall be determined, ways of
introducing programmes of political parties, candidates on party and
independent lists, candidates for representatives of members of national
minorities, party officials, and regulations for programmes with confrontations
of the list holders.
By the
regulations from Paragraph 1 of this Article total airing time of all the
programmes shall be established (telops, video clips, rally recordings, special
programmes and similar) that by means of electronic media with national
concession in the Republic of Croatia can be bought in the same duration by the
political party that has the majority, the coalition and the opposition parties
or coalitions, taking into account that the equal time shall be calculated
according to the particular list participating on elections.
COST OF
ELECTION ADVERTISING
AND THE RIGHT OF COMPENSATION
The right of
compensation of election advertising expenses form the state budget of the
Republic of Croatia shall be exercised by all the political parties who have
registered their lists in at least one constituency for the election of representatives
to the Parliament.
The right to
compensation of expenses of the election advertising form the state budget of
the Republic of Croatia shall also be exercises by the candidates for
representatives of members of national minorities who are being elected in
special constituencies and the holders of independent lists.
Parliamentary
political parties that have had representatives in the Parliament on the day of
31st December 2002 and that participate on the elections, have the
right to compensate the expenses of the election advertising in the one-year
amount determined for the year 2003 according to the Act on Political Parties
(»Narodne novine« Nr 76/93, 111/96, 164/98 and 36/01) and according to the
regulations adopted on the basis of this act.
The costs of
election advertising from the Paragraph 1 of this Article must be paid to the
political parties not later than 48 hours after the accepted lists have become
final.
Every
political party that has a list for the election of the representatives to
Parliament has the obligation by the beginning of the election advertising to
announce approximate data on the amount and source of own means that it intends
to spend for the election advertising.
Candidates
for representative of members of national minorities are also obliged to
announce data on the amount and source of own means that they intend to spend
on the election advertising by the beginning of the election advertising.
Political
parties, that on the day of 31st December 2002 have not been
represented in the Parliament, and also the proposers of independent lists
participating in the elections, have the right to compensation of costs of
election advertising if they win at the elections more than 5% of valid votes
of their constituency.
The right of
expenditure compensation of the election advertising from the state budget of
the Republic of Croatia shall also be exercised by the candidates for
representative members of national minorities who shall win at least 5% of
valid votes in a special constituency.
The
compensation shall be paid within 30 days, from the day of the proclamation of
official electoral results.
The amount of
the compensation of the election advertising is to be determined by the Government
of the Republic of Croatia by a special resolution. The resolution must be
adopted not later than 20 days before the conducting of elections.
Political
parties, independent candidates and candidates for representatives of national
minorities can finance the election advertising with their own financial means.
The
expenditures compensation of the election advertising shall be paid directly to
central bank accounts of political parties in the place of their seat, or
directly to independent candidates and candidates for representatives of
national minorities.
THE ELECTION
OF REPRESENTATIVES
TO PARLIAMENT
140
representatives in the Parliament shall be elected in that manner that the
territory of the Republic of Croatia shall be divided in ten constituencies,
and in each constituency, on the basis of lists, 14 representatives shall be
elected.
The
constituencies shall be determined by the Act on constituencies for the
election of the representatives to the Croatian Parliament, in a manner that
the number of voters in the constituencies must not differ more than + – 5%.
When defining
constituencies, account shall be taken as much as possible on territories of
municipalities, counties and towns in the Republic of Croatia, determined by
the law.
The number of
representatives that shall be elected from each list of a constituency shall be
determined in the following way:
The total number
of valid votes that each list (the electoral mass of the list) has won is to be
divided with numbers from 1 to finally 14, decimal rest also taking into
account. Of all the gained results, representative seats shall win those lists
on which the 14 numerically biggest results are shown, including the decimal
rests. Each of these lists shall win as much representative seats in the
Parliament, as much single results among the 14 numerically biggest results it
has won.
The right to
participate in the division of representative seats in a constituency shall be
exercised by those lists that shall win in the elections at least 5% of valid
votes.
From each
list, elected shall be the candidates from the ordinal number 1 to that ordinal
number of how many representative seats a particular list has won.
Deputy
candidates from each list of a constituency shall be the candidates who have
not been elected.
Voters who do
not have their residence in the Republic of Croatia shall elect representatives
on the basis of lists with the 14 candidates in a special constituency.
The number of
representatives to be elected by the voters not having their residence in the
Republic of Croatia in a special constituency shall be determined in the
following manner:
The total
number of the valid votes in the ten constituencies in the Republic of Croatia
shall be divided with 140, which is how many representatives have totally been
elected in these constituencies. With the gained results, the number of valid
votes in the special constituency shall be divided. The result achieved in that
manner is the number of representatives elected in the special constituency. If
the result is not a whole number, it shall be rounded to the whole number from
0.5 up and below 0.5 down.
The total
number of representatives elected by the voters who do not have residence in
the Republic of Croatia in the special constituency determined by the Article 41
of this Act shall be divided among the lists nominated in this constituency
according to provisions of the Article 37 to 39 of this Act.
Members of
national minorities from the Article 16 of this Act shall elect representatives
to the Parliament by individual elections, in the manner that the candidate is
elected who has won the most votes of the voters who have cast their votes. If
two or more candidates win the same number of votes, the elections shall be
repeated.
THE ELECTION
IMPLEMENTION BODIES
The bodies
for implementation of elections for the Parliament are:
The National
Election Commission, Constituency Election Commissions, Municipal and Town
Election Commissions and Electors' Committee.
THE NATIONAL
ELECTION COMMISSION
The National
Election Commission has a permanent and expanded membership.
The permanent
membership of the National Election Commission consist of a president and four
members, and their deputies.
The President
of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia is by his/her position the
president of the National Election Commission.
Members of
the Commission, deputy president and deputies of the members of the permanent
membership of the National Election Commission shall be appointed by the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia from judges of the Supreme
Court of the Republic of Croatia and other prominent lawyers who must not be
members of political parties.
The expanded
membership of the National Election Commission shall be determined upon
accepting, determining and proclaiming of the constituencies.
Members of
the expanded membership of the National Election Commission have all the rights
and obligations as permanent members of the National Election Commission.
The expanded
membership of the National Election Commission consists of three
representatives of the majority party or coalition and three representatives of
the political parties of the opposition or coalition proposed by agreement,
consistent to the structure of the Parliament, and their deputies.
If no
agreement can be achieved on the three opposition representatives, that by the
structure of the Parliament are considered opposition, the election of the
three members of the expanded membership and their deputies shall be decided by
lot, at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, among the
candidates and their deputies.
The National
Election Commission shall:
1. take care of
a legal preparation and conduct of the elections for representatives in the
Parliament
2. appoint
members of Constituency Election Commissions,
3. determine
mandatory instructions for work for Election Commissions and electors'
committees,
4. determine
polling stations and election committees in Croatian diplomatic-consular
missions of the Republic of Croatia,
5. regulate
forms to be used in the process of preparation and conduct of elections
6. supervise
work of Constituency Election Commissions
7. on the basis of
legally valid proposals, publishes and proclaims lists of the constituencies,
and drafts collective lists of the constituencies,
8. supervise
regularity of the election advertising
9. announce
results of elections for representatives in the Parliament,
10. ensure
permanent service of reliable, competent and professional information of voters
and providing answers connected to conduct of voting and elections,
11. perform other
work regulated by this Act.
Obligatory
instructions for work of Election Commissions and electors' committees
determined by the National Election Commission shall be published in »Narodne
novine«, on Croatian radio-television and in all the daily newspapers in the
Republic of Croatia.
THE
CONSTITUENCY ELECTION COMMISSION
The
Constituency Election Commission has a permanent and an expanded membership.
The permanent
membership of the constituency Election Commission consists of the president
and two members, and their deputies.
The
president, members, deputy president and deputy members of the permanent
membership of the constituency Election Commission shall be appointed by the
National Election Commission among judges and prominent lawyers.
The expanded membership
of the constituency Election Commission shall be determined upon accepting,
determining and proclaiming of party lists.
Members of
the expanded membership of the constituency Election Commission shall have all the
rights and obligations of permanent members of the Constituency Election
Commission.
The expanded
membership of the constituency Election Commission consists of two
representatives of the majority political party, or coalition and two representatives
of parties of the opposition, or coalition, proposed by agreement, consistent
to the party structure of the Parliament, and their deputies.
If no
agreement can be achieved on the two opposition representatives, that by the
structure of the Parliament are considered opposition, the election of the two
members of the expanded membership and their deputies shall be decided by lot,
at the National Election Commission, among the candidates and their deputies.
The
constituency Election Commission shall:
1. take care of
a legal conduct of elections at the polling stations in its territory,
2. determine the
polling stations on the proposal of Municipal and Town Election Commissions,
3. appoint the
Town and Municipal Election Commissions,
4. appoint and
dissolve Electors Committees,
5. according to
obligatory instructions of the National Election Commission perform all
technical preparations for conduct of elections in its territory,
6. collect and
add results of the voting on polling stations in its territory from Municipal
and Town Election Commissions
7. perform other
tasks regulated by this Act.
Provisions of
the Article 53 of this Act shall be applied in the appropriate way also to the
Constituency Election Commissions in which representatives of national
minorities in the Republic of Croatia shall be elected.
THE MUNICIPAL
AND TOWN ELECTION
COMMISSION
The Municipal
and town Election Commissions are appointed by the Constituency Election
Commission.
To
the structure of Municipal and Town Election Commissions the same rules shall
be applied as to the election and structure of the Constituency Election
Commission.
The Municipal
and Town Election Commission shall:
– propose to
the Constituency Election Commissions to determine the polling stations in the
territory of the municipality or town,
– propose the
appointment of Electoral Committees in the territory of the municipality or
town
– propose
dissolution of Electoral Committees in cases envisaged by this Act,
– collect data
on elections and proceed them to the Constituency Election Commission,
– perform other
work delegated to them by the Constituency Election Commission from its scope
THE ELECTORAL
COMMITTEES
Electoral
committees directly conduct elections of voters on polling stations and ensure
regularity and secrecy of voting.
An Electoral
Committee shall consist of a president and four members, and deputy members.
Two members and a deputy shall be appointed by the majority political party or
coalition, and two members and deputies by the parties of the opposition or
coalition consistent to the party structure of the Parliament.
Political
parties must appoint members of particular Electors Committees and deliver
their names to the responsible Election Commissions not later than 8 days
before the elections day. If they fail to do so, the Election Commissions will
appoint members of Electors Committees by themselves.
The president
of the Electors Committee and his deputy must not be members of any political
party, and shall possibly be lawyers.
Electors
Committees for all the polling stations consistent to provisions of the
Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article shall be appointed by the Election
Commissions in charge according to the provisions of this Act, not later than
five days before the election day.
THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTIONS
Not later
than ten days before the elections, the National Election Commission for the
polling stations abroad, and Constituency Election Commission for the polling
stations in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, shall announce which
polling stations have been determined, with the notice which voters shall vote
on which location.
The Minister
of defence shall determine the polling stations for voters who serve in the
Armed forces of the Republic of Croatia.
The Minister
of maritime affairs, transport and communications shall determine the polling
stations for voting of ship crews on seas and rivers under Croatian flag, who
will be outside borders of the Republic of Croatia on the election day.
The Minister
in charge of justice administration shall appoint the polling stations for
voting of persons divested of freedom.
When
determining the polling station location, account must be taken of the number
of voters who will vote, and accessibility and distance of the polling station.
The number of
voters who shall vote at one polling station shall be determined in the manner
that the voting can without difficulties be conducted in the period determined
for voting.
For each
polling station a separate voting room shall be determined, that must be
equipped and arranged in the way ensuring the secrecy of the voting.
Each polling
station has an ordinal number.
Not later
than eight days before the elections day the responsible body shall deliver to
every voter a voting list extract, relating to him/her.
THE VOTING
PROCESS AND ESTABLISHING
OF RESULTS
The voting is
to be performed personally, by means of a voting slip.
No one can
vote instead of another person.
The voting
slip shall be printed in the state printing press determined by and supervised
by the National Election Commission.
Each voting
slip must have a serial number printed.
The voting
slip on which one shall vote for one of the lists in the constituency shall
content:
1. name of the
list,
2. name and
family name of the list holder,
3. serial number
On the voting
slip, the political parties shall be listed in that order in which they are
listed on the collective list of particular lists. An ordinal number shall be
placed in front of the name of the list.
One shall
vote only for constituency lists listed on the voting slip.
The voting
slip is to be filled out in the manner, that the ordinal number in front of the
name of the constituency list shall be encircled.
The voting
slip, on which one votes in the constituency in which a representative of a
national minority is to be elected, shall content:
1. name and
family name of the candidate and his/her deputy
2. full and
abbreviated name of the political party, or parties or party coalitions that
nominated the candidate. If the candidate has been nominated by a group of
voters in accordance with the provisions of this Act, next to his/her name a
notice »independent candidate« is to be placed.
3. serial number
Candidates
shall be listed on the voting slip in that order in which they are listed on the
list of candidates for election of representatives of national minorities. In
front of name and family name of a candidate an ordinal number is to be placed.
One shall
vote only for candidates for election of representatives of national minorities
listed on the election slip, by means of encircling the ordinal number in front
of the candidate's name.
A valid
voting slip is the one out of which one can with certainty and in a doubtless manner
establish the will of the voter, and for which list or candidate the voter has
cast his/her vote.
A non-valid
voting slip is:
1. an unfilled
voting slip,
2. a voting slip
filled out in the way in which one cannot with certainty and in a doubtless
manner establish the will of the voter and for which list or candidate the
voter has cast his/her vote,
3. a voting slip
in which the voter has cast his/her vote for two or more list or candidates.
The voting
shall be conducted permanently from seven to nineteen hours.
In the
diplomatic-consular missions the voting shall last for two days and finish on
the same day as the voting in the Republic of Croatia.
The polling
stations shall close at nineteen hours. The voting shall be made possible to
the voters who are at the polling station the in the moment of closing.
At least
three members or their deputies of the electoral committee must be permanently
present at the polling station.
The president
of the Electors Committee is obliged and authorised to ensure order and peace
at the polling station during elections, and after the closing of the polling
stations.
If it is
necessary for preserving of order and peace and undisturbed development of voting,
the president of the Electors Committee can ask for help of the police, that on
the election day must proceed according to his/her instructions and to its
legal authorisations.
No one,
except members of the police on invitation of the president of the Electors
Committee, is allowed to come to the polling station armed.
The president
of the Electors Committee or a member authorized by him/her, must check every
voter who approaches the polling station for voting if he/she has been registered
in the voters list.
If the voter
has not been registered in the voting list, the president of the electors
committee shall not allow him/her to vote, except if the voter does not prove
his/her right to vote by a certificate of a competent body of the state
administration.
A voter who
due to some physical handicap or illiteracy cannot vote independently, may come
to the polling station with another person who is literate and who shall by
his/her authorisation and according to his/her instruction encircle the ordinal
number in front of the list name, or the name of the candidate for who the
voter is casting his/her vote.
A voter who
is not able to come to the polling station, shall inform the Electors Committee
of that fact. The president of the Committee shall determine at least two
members of the electors committee or deputies, who will visit the voter and
enable voting for him, taking into account the secrecy of the voting procedure.
The president
of the Electors Committee is obliged to register to the Electors Committee work
minutes particular events like voting of voters with a physical handicap,
illiterate voters, and voting outside the polling station by previous notice of
voters.
On completed
voting the electors Committee must first count the unused voting slips and
store them in a special envelope that shall be sealed.
Afterwards,
the Electors Committee on the basis of minutes establishes the total number of
voters who have cast their vote, or according to the extract of the voting
list.
After
establishing the number of voters who have cast their vote, the committee opens
the ballot-box and counts the votes.
If during the
counting of votes shall be established, that the number of votes according to
the voting list is bigger than the number of votes according to voting slips,
the result according to voting slips shall be considered valid.
If during the
counting of votes shall be established that a smaller number of voters have cast
their votes from the number of votes in the ballot-box, the electors committee
shall at once interrupt its work and accompanied by a report, send the material
s to the Municipal or Town Election Commission.
The Municipal
or Town Election Commission shall at once report the fact to the Constituency
Election Commission that will annul the voting on that polling station,
dissolve the Electors Committee, appoint a new one and order a repeating of
elections on that polling station within eight days.
When the
Electors Committee establishes the results of the voting at a polling station,
the following facts shall be entered to the minutes of their work:
– the number of
voters according to the voting list,
– how many
voters have voted according to the extract from the voting list, and how many
on the basis of a certificate of responsible state administration body and how
many totally,
– how many
votes has each list won, or a particular candidate for the election of a
representative of national minority,
– how many
voting slips have been declared non-valid.
All other
fact important for the voting procedure shall be entered to the minutes on work
of the Electors Committee.
Every member
of the Electors Committee shall be authorised to give written notices to the
minutes.
All the
members of the electors committee shall sign the minutes.
Every member
of the Electors Committee and every deputy is entitled to a photocopy or a
transcript of the minutes on the work of the electors committee, authorized by their
signatures of all the members of the committee.
The Electors
Committee delivers the minutes on its work with other election materials to the
municipal or town Election Commission within 12 hours from the closing of the
polling stations.
The Electors
Committee in the Croatian diplomatic-consular mission delivers its minutes with
other election materials directly to the National Election Commission within 48
hours from the closing of polling stations.
Municipal or
Town Election Commission shall take minutes where the following facts should be
registered:
1. the number of
voters registered to the extract of voting list in its territory
2. the number of
voters who have cast their vote and the number of voting slips that have been declared
non-valid
3. the number of
voters that each list has won
Municipal or
town Election Commission shall send the minutes with other election material to
the Constituency Election Commission within 18 hours from the closing of
polling stations.
The
Constituency Election Commission shall take minutes on its work, where the
following facts shall be registered:
1. the number of
voters registered to the extract of voting list in its territory
2. the number of
voters who have cast their vote and the number of voting slips that have been
declared non-valid
3. the number of
voters that each list has won, and names and family names of candidates from
each list who have been elected for representatives.
Every member of
the Constituency Election Commission can present written objections to the
minutes. The minutes shall be signed by all the members of the Constituency
Election Commission.
The
Constituency Election Commission shall add all the results of voting on polling
station in its territory within 24 hours from the closing of polling stations.
The
Constituency Election Commission shall deliver the election results in its
territory to the National Election Commission together with minutes on its work
in the manner and term it has been determined to them.
The National
Election Commission shall establish the results of elections for
representatives in the Parliament.
When the
National Election Commission establishes the voting results, it will announce
without delay:
1. the number of
voters registered in the voting lists, the number of voters who have voted in
each constituency, how many votes each particular list has won in a particular
constituency and how many non-valid voting slips have been,
2. the number of
representative seats that each list have won, and names and family names of
candidates elected for representatives,
3. name and
family name of candidates and their deputies who have been elected in each
constituency where a representative and his/her deputy of national minorities
is being elected.
During the
process of voting the National Election Commission may announce temporary
results on the number of voters who have cast their votes.
The National Election
Commission may, at its discretion announce after closing of polling station
temporary and non-official results of elections.
The official
results are to be announced after all the legal means of voters protection
rights have been exhausted or terms for their presentation expired.
EXPENDITURES
OF ELECTION IMPLEMENTATION
Financial
means for the coverage of election expenditures are being ensured in the state
budget of the Republic of Croatia, and the National Election Commission
disposes of them.
The National
Election Commission determines the way of usage of the financial means,
conducts supervision on their expenditure and grants appropriate means to
Election Commissions in the constituencies.
The National
Election Commission shall publish in the media of public communication a
complete report on the amounts of expenditures of elections and the manner of
their spending within 30 days from the day of the official announcements of the
election results.
PROTECTION OF
ELECTION RIGHT
Constitutionality
and legality of elections shall supervise the Constitutional Court of the
Republic of Croatia.
The
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia resolves election disputes that
are not in the scope of courts of justice, deciding upon complaints on the
responsible Election Commission.
Every
political party, holder of independent list, candidates for representatives to
Parliament, minimum 100 voters or minimum 5% of the voters of a constituency in
which the elections are being conducted may file an objection due to
irregularities in the procedure of nomination or in the procedure of election.
If a list of
a constituency has been proposed or a candidate for a representative of national
minority has been nominated by several political parties, the objections will
be deemed valid even if it has been presented by only one political party.
An objection
for irregularities in the nomination procedure and in the election procedure is
to be presented to the National Election Commission within 48 hours from the
expiry of the day when the disputable activity has been performed.
The National
Election Commission must pass a resolution on the objection within 48 hours
from the day the objection has been presented, or form the day when the
election materials have been delivered, on which the objection is being
related.
If the
National Election Commission, when deciding on the objection, establishes that
there have been irregularities that have essentially influenced the results of
the elections, it will annul these activities, and determine that these
activities shall be repeated in a fixed term, which must enable that the
elections are conducted on the day when they are called.
If there is
no possibility of repeating the annulled activities or if the irregularities
relate to the procedure of voting, and they have essentially influenced or
could have influenced to the result of elections, the National Election
Commission shall annul the elections and determine a term in which they must be
repeated.
Against the
resolution of the National Election Commission the objection submitter is
entitled to file a complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia.
The complaint
shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia
through the National Election Commission within 48 hours from the expiration of
the day when the contested resolution has been received.
The
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia must pass a decision on the
complaint within 48 hours from the day of its receipt.
A submitted
objection or a filed complaint in the procedure of the protection of election
right do not postpone the performing of election activities that are determined
by this Act.
Administration
fees are not to be paid for briefs and resolutions in the procedures according
to the provisions of this Act.
THE ETHICS
COMMISSION
The Ethics Commission
is a supra-partisan body of generally acknowledged public reputation that by
means of public communications and warnings shall act on promotion and
realization of ethics and democratic principles in elections.
The Ethics
Commission shall evaluate the behaviour of the election participants during the
election advertising campaign and the procedure of election itself and shall
conduct an extra-administrative supervision of the election advertising
campaign.
The Ethics
Commission shall have a president and six members, three members being
nominated by the majority party and oppositional political parties, consistent
to the structure of the Parliament.
The members
of the Commission, on the basis of proposals of parliamentary political parties
are being appointed by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia,
from the group of prominent public personalities who are not candidates on the
elections and who are not members of any political party.
The President
of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, by the positions of his/her
office is the President of the Ethics Commission.
After
announcing the decision on the calling of election, and before the beginning of
the election advertising campaign, the Ethics Commission shall adopt and
publish the Election Code of Ethics containing a system of rules on behaviour
of individuals and political parties in the election advertising and election
procedure. Before the adoption of the Election Code of Ethics the Commission
shall ask for position statement of the parliamentary political parties.
ELECTION
MONITORING BY NON-GOVERMENT ORGANISATIONS
Non-government
organizations are entitled to observe the election procedure, and especially to
monitor the implementation of the elections and work of Election Commissions
and Electors Committees on all levels.
The
interested organizations from the Paragraph 1 of this article must within eight
days from the calling of the elections, ask from the National Election
Commission a permit for monitoring of work of the Election Commissions and
electors committees.
The National
Election Commission shall allow the monitoring of the election procedure to all
the organizations that are registered as associations with activities in the
field of independent monitoring of elections procedures and/or promotion of
human and civil rights.
On the basis
of the adopted resolution from the Paragraph 3 of this Article authorized
non-government organizations are obliged, to deliver to the National Election
Commission within eight days before the beginning of elections, a list of names
of their authorized monitors. The National Election Commission shall prepare
official identification cards for every authorized monitor and send them to the
seat of the non-government organization within three days before the elections.
By presenting
the resolution of the National Election Commission and the decision of the
authorized non-government organization on appointment of monitor from Paragraph
4 of this Article, the authorized monitor shall be given the minutes of the
work of the electors committee and the right of insight in complete election
material and monitoring of the total election procedure.
The National
Election Commission shall within eight days from the day of the calling of
elections and consistent to the Paragraph 1 of this Article, adopt rules in
which rights and obligations of monitors of the non-government organizations in
monitoring of the election procedures shall be described in detail.
TRANSITIONAL
AND FINAL PROVISIONS
On the day of
entering into force of the Act on Election of Representatives to the Croatian
National Parliament (Parliament) (The Official Gazette »Narodne novine« Nr.
116/99) the Act on Election of Representatives to the Parliament of the
Republic of Croatia (»Narodne novine« Nr. 22/92, 1/93, 30/93 – consolidated
wording, 11/94, 68/95 and 108/96) ceases to be valid.