Gong calls for discussion of election rules to be professional, transparent and inclusive

24. April 2023.
Gong calls for discussion of election rules to be professional, transparent and inclusive 1

In democratic societies, electoral laws are amended in an inclusive and transparent manner, as they represent the fundamental rules of political competition that affect all political actors. Involving the opposition in the drafting of electoral laws ensures the confidence of candidates and voters in the electoral process and seeks to find the best solutions through discussions between the ruling party, the opposition, the profession and civil society.

"As an organization that has been monitoring the conduct of elections in Croatia for a quarter of a century and systematically advocating for the democratization and improvement of the normative framework of electoral processes, Gong expresses its concern about the process of drafting the Election Constituency Act, which is being prepared by a closed, exclusively party-affiliated HDZ working group," emphasized Oriana Ivković Novokmet, Executive Director of Gong.

Two months have passed since the decision by which the Constitutional Court ordered the drafting of a new Election Constituency Act, which must ensure the equality of the right to vote for all citizens. According to the information available to the public, the new Act is being prepared by the HDZ working group, from which announcements leak out from time to time, a kind of test "balloons" of what the new units will look like.

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Zagreb, April 24, 2023 - Gong media conference on the transparency of the draft Election Constituency Act, where the proposed model was discussed, according to which Croatia would be divided into six instead of ten constituencies, while retaining the existing constituencies for the diaspora and national minorities. In the photo Oriana Ivković Novokmet, Goran Čular, Berto Šalaj. Photo HINA/ Daniel KASAP/dk

If the Pokos model is adopted, the ruling party will constantly redraw the boundaries of the constituencies

These announcements, confirmed by other officials of the HDZ leadership, indicate that Croatia will unfortunately remain trapped in the 10x14 model (10 constituencies for 14 mandates), which means that with every demographic change - today it is the HDZ and tomorrow some other party in power - the law will be changed again, and the boundaries of the constituencies redrawn.

Gong considers the demographer Pokos' model, which the HDZ will most likely accept, a bad solution because it further distorts the already territorially illogical appearance of the constituencies by combining Novska and Vir or Osijek and Koprivnica into one unit and maintaining the division of Zagreb into several constituencies.

"There remains a very illogical territorial division. Pokos' model is even a step backward in some parts compared to the existing model. The Prime Minister said that the division of constituencies is a technical issue, but the HDZ is doing everything to ensure that it is not just a technical issue. With this approach to solving the problem of electoral legislation, HDZ leaves it to any future government to redraw the units in case of demographic changes," said Goran Čular, author of Gong's research* and professor at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb.

We emphasise that such a solution would not be in line with the decision of the Constitutional Court, which has advocated avoiding the fragmentation of existing (administrative and other traditional) geographical units in the formation of electoral constituencies, i.e., sacrificing territorial importance at the expense of a purely mathematical balance of the strength of voting rights per constituency.

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Zagreb, April 24, 2023 - Gong media conference on the transparency of the draft Election Constituency Act, where the proposed model was discussed, according to which Croatia would be divided into six instead of ten constituencies, while retaining the existing constituencies for the diaspora and national minorities. In the photo Oriana Ivković Novokmet, Goran Čular, Berto Šalaj. Photo HINA/ Daniel KASAP/dk

We need permanent and logical constituency boundaries, not party-motivated redistricting

Gong proposes a model in which Croatia would be divided into six constituencies instead of ten, while retaining the existing constituencies for the diaspora and national minorities. The boundaries of the constituencies would correspond to the boundaries of the counties, but also to the boundaries of the historical Croatian provinces (Slavonia, Dalmatia, Istria and Rijeka, Zagorje, Međimurje...), while the city of Zagreb would form one constituency. In the constituencies, the number of MP's would be elected in proportion to the number of voters or inhabitants - from 17 to 29.

This type of proposal, with a smaller number of constituencies and a larger number of deputies elected in them, also contributes to a better proportionality of the elections. Moreover, Gong's model meets the additional requirement of the Constitutional Court to protect the electoral model from arbitrary subsequent changes that could be politically abused. This is because in the event of demographic changes, the number of mandates in an individual constituency would not be determined subsequently within that constituency but would only be updated as needed.

"Gong's model is better than the model where each district is a constituency. This proposal meets the criteria of the Constitutional Court, but it has a drawback. The fact that 2 or 3 mandates are elected in a constituency leads to disproportionality. You could even get 25% of the votes in your constituency and still not win a mandate," stressed Berto Šalaj, chairman of the Gong Council and professor at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb.

Gong suggests that due to the disastrous state of the electoral register, where it is estimated that there are half a million more voters than adult citizens in the Republic of Croatia, the number of adult citizens according to the last census of 2021 should be used as the basis for calculating the number of mandates in a given constituency.

"We are aware that the census has certain shortcomings, but it is more likely that the census data better reflect the actual situation on the ground. Moreover, we propose to use the list as an interim solution, and we are very much in favour of getting the electoral roll in order as soon as possible. The urgent order and 'cleaning' of the electoral register is necessary not only for holding elections, but perhaps even more so for holding a referendum, the results of which depend largely on the state of this register," Šalaj explained.

If the Government continues to delay the formation of its working group and does not initiate a public debate involving the opposition, experts and non-governmental organizations, and insists only on minimal changes to the existing situation, Croatia will miss another opportunity for a quality long-term solution for constituencies and electoral equality.

Watch the full VIDEO of the press conference HERE.

* The previous version of the article incorrectly stated that the author of Gong's model was exclusively Goran Čular. Gong's model was created by a group of authors in 2014.

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