Opposition: 500,000 extra voters in register; HDZ: Rules are same for everyone

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Wednesday opened a discussion on the final proposal to amend the Electoral Units Act, with ruling and opposition MPs exchanging heavy words over the voter register.

The opposition warned that there are 500,000 extra voters on the list, which is why "even the dead will vote", while the ruling party insists that the rules are the same for everyone.

Bridge's Marin Miletić warned in his reply to Justice Minister Ivan Malenica that there is a surplus of 500,000 voters and because of this the electoral competition will not be equal for all. He therefore asked how it is possible for Croatia to go to the elections and have extra 500,000 ballots.

This provoked reactions from several members of the ruling party who wanted to respond to Miletić by violating the rules of procedure.

HDZ's Marija Jelkovac believes that this an insult to the MPs because it alludes to the fact that the proposed law aims to create an advantage in the elections in advance, which is not true. "The rules are the same for everyone," she said.

Hrvoje Zekanović (HDS) recalled that Bridge had a minister of administration in two government terms who could have changed that, but he didn't. "Pure demagoguery and lies," said Zekanović.

Presenting the bill, Minister Malenica recalled that the Constitutional Court's ruling from February repealed the law governing the area of ??constituencies for the election of representatives to the Croatian Parliament, and that the current law ceases to be valid on 1 October.

He stated that, as before, 10 constituencies remain (plus two for the election of representatives of national minorities and citizens residing outside the Republic of Croatia) in which 14 representatives are elected each.

The starting point for the number of voters in each electoral unit was taken from the official record of the number of voters from the Register of Voters. He pointed out that the number of voters in each constituency is within the legal framework of plus/minus 5 percent, and the range is from minus 2.13 to plus 2.26 percent.