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Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Friday adopted amendments to the Local Elections Act which introduce stricter criteria for the nomination of candidates for municipal heads, mayors, county heads and their deputies.
The amended law makes regulations that refer to the cessation of the term of a member of a local representative body, mayor, municipal head, county head and their deputies more precise, notably in the case of a final court verdict sentencing an office-holder to prison which has been changed to community service or a conditional sentence, as well as in the case of the cessation of the term due to deregistration of residence in a given local government unit.
Earlier in the day a Government representative accepted amendments by the ruling HDZ party group which ease previously proposed stricter rules for the nomination of candidates in elections and reasons for the termination of a local official's term.
A regulation has been eased under which a person with a final court verdict sentencing them to a prison term of at least six months or whose verdict has been changed to community service and a conditional verdict will be banned from running in elections, starting already with the May 16 local election.
The HDZ parliamentary group proposed that the ban should not apply to persons sentenced to prison for an unintentional crime, if their sentence has been changed to community service or a conditional sentence.
The Government partially accepted amendments by the SDP, GLAS and Centre party groups under which the term of a member of a representative body, municipal head, mayor and county head stops on the day when they deregister their residence in their local government unit.
Also accepted were amendments that relax reasons for the termination of the term of a member of a representative body, municipal head, mayor and county head and their deputies.
If those officials have committed an unintentional crime and have been sentenced to prison but their sentence has been changed to community service or a conditional sentence, the terms of those officials will not cease.