Opposition and parliamentary majority at odds over new Law on Electoral Units

The Constitutional Court gave government a deadline of October 1st of 2023 to amend the existing Law on Electoral Units so as to ensure equally weighted voting rights for all counties. The next parliamentary elections in Croatia, to elect the 11th assembly of the Croatian Parliament, must be held on or before September 22nd of next year.

In spite of the fact that it was already voted in at the end of September, on Tuesday MPs once again debated the Law on Electoral Units. The debate was prompted by the fact that the legislation states that it will enter into force on October 1st, even though it was only published in the Official Gazette three days later, because the president signed it into law on October 3rd.

The opposition, who opposed the government’s proposed legislation on the grounds of gerrymandering electoral districts, accused the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of trying to reduce the obvious discrepancy to bickering between Croatian President Zoran Milanović and the government. MOST MP Nino Raspudić: "You have fallen into a constitutional and legal hole that you dug yourself with this ridiculous bill because you did everything wrong from the start. Obviously your PR people instructed you to mention the president and to reduce this to a fight between you and the president. The president is unimportant, what is important is the constitutional and legal order that you have violated."

HDZ MP Josip Borić however, insisted that the fault lies clearly with President Milanović: "The President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, as the king of inconsistency and double standards in the Republic of Croatia, as a politician, has done something that we have not seen before. If he did it on purpose, we have to fix it today, if he was being lazy, then we have his kids, the Raspudić family stands out in particular, to defend all of his moves."

SDP MP Andreja Marić however, maintained that the prime minister himself had said that the deadline of October 1st was attainable: "I will quote Prime Minister Plenković, he said that when there is will, desire and intention, then it can be done, so did you have the desire, will and intention to communicate this first of all with the president of the republic. Obviously you didn't. In fact, you made a mistake and did shoddy work."

Her claims however, were rejected by Justice and Administration Minister Ivan Malenica: "It was voted on in parliament on time and the president was expected to sign the law, so that it could take effect on October 1st and ensure that we do not have a legal vacuum. So, this is not a case of shoddy work on the part of the government or parliament."

Source: HRT