WHO ACTUALLY ELECTED THE CROATIAN PARLIAMENT?

AIM, ZAGREB, November 7, 1995

Although the official results have not been published yet because voting had to be repeated at several voting posts, as far as the Parliament is concerned there are no significant changes in Croatia in relation to its earlier composition. Out of the 127 places in the Parliamentary House of Representatives, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won as much as 75 seats or 59.05 percent, while the rest went to the opposition and seven representatives of national minorities. This 75th representative HDZ got on Sunday, November 5, when at the repeated elections in the electoral unit Dugo Selo the advantage of the opposition representative Zdenko Haramija of 199 votes vanished into thin air, and the hitherto Minister of Agriculture Ivica Gaci won.

Actually, Tudjman's movement achieved what it wanted, but it did not manage to grab a two-third majority and reduce the number of parties in the Parliament, as there will be 12 of them, which is more than in the last convocation. Thus, the Liberals will have 12, Peasants 10, SDP 10, IDS 4, Rightists 4, Nationals 2, and the Slavonija - Baranja Croatian Party, the Croatian Christian Democratic Union and the Croatian Independent Democrats one each. The Serbian ethnic community, or minority, will be represented by two deputies of the SNS (Serbian National Party) (Milan Djukic and Veselin Pejnovic), as well as one representative of the Action of Social Democrats (Milorad Pupovac) who is at the same time the President of the Serbian Independent Party.

And that would in short be what is known, but much will never be known and a shadow of irregularity will always loom over these elections. It is not just a matter of impression, but of exact numbers. Namely, almost everything has been said and written about the way in which the Electoral Law was passed, the way electoral units were determined, why the diaspora elected as many as 12 deputies, and the Serbian deputies were reduced from 13 to only three, how the election campaign proceeded, why the opposition was not allowed to have its representatives on the electoral boards. But, the Republican Electoral Commission or someone else will have to answer a number of other questions, primarily: who actually voted at the Croatian elections on October 29?

Only a day before the elections Dr.Krunislav Olujic, President of the Republican Electoral Commission and of the Supreme Court of Croatia stated that 3,601,951 voters had a right to vote in Croatia, which could only be interpreted that that was the number of citizens of age with permanent residence in Croatia on that day. However, Report No.21 of November 1, at 6,00 p.m. states that the number of voters was 3,632,354. A significant difference of 31,000 voters. Even if it can be claimed that this 0.86 percent is negligible, then someone would have to answer the following question: how come that when the number of inscribed voters in 28 electoral units is added up electing only one deputy, to five so-called special electoral units, where national minority members voted, the result is the figure of 3,722,299! Well, this is not negligible, as an unbelievable difference of 121 thousand people is in question, i.e. 3.35%. These "dead souls" could have well changed the results, especially when it is known that in some electoral units the difference between the winners and the losers is only some hundred votes.

Even if we ascribe this to a mistake, although one of such magnitude is incredible, how can we explain that 2,495,669 voters voted for the state lists, and 2,500,890 voters in the electoral units. Where does that difference of 5,221 votes come from? How come that in the case of state lists the number of those who abstained was 30.9%, and as much as 33% in the electoral units? How come that there were 82,574 or 3.3% unvalid ballots for state lists, and 80,688 or 3.22% for individuals? This information becomes even more important when it is known that three years ago, officially, only 25.1% of the voters abstained, which means that 200,000 people more turned out at the voting posts while the invalid ballots were only 2.21%. Have the inhabitants of Croatia become more stupid during these three years, or is something else in question?

Asked to comment on these figures Dr. Olujic answered that the difference can stem from the fact that some voters were subsequently registered on the voting lists, but he stated that the figure of the additional 12 thousand has to be checked. The right place for that, according to him, is the Ministry of Administration and not the Electoral Commission, although he himself would subsequently inform the public about everything. To the additional question whether a citizen with permanent residence in Croatia could have voted only in his place of residence, or only by showing a certificate on being on the voting list, while that rule did not apply if that citizen was abroad because then he needed only his identity card, he answered affirmatively.

To the hypothetical question: does that mean that a citizen of Croatia could have, in principle, voted in some fifty places, for instance - in Herzeg Bosnia - Olujic answered: "Yes", although he expressed doubt that such things had taken place. In any case, he promised to inform the public of the number of citizens with residence in Croatia who voted outside the country and of the number of ballots sent there.

It is hard to believe that the truth about these illogical facts will ever be found out, but for the present one can only claim that the Serbs are largely "to blame" for the misunderstandings. According to the 1991 census there were 581,663 or 12.61 percent Serbs, but although it was claimed that all those who had left after the "Blitz" and the "Storm", as well as those living in the occupied parts of Croatia, were retained in the electorate, how can the fact be explained that according to the Report of the Electoral Commission there are 173,274 of them registered? When we add those who did not yet get the right to vote, it turns out that at the moment in Croatia, according to the admission of the state, the Serbs number 210,000. How did the Electoral Commission or the Ministry of Administration arrive at this figure?

Which Serbs do they actually still consider citizens of Croatia? Only those who got citizenship, or is another criterion applied? If the census was secret, in which way did the members of the Electoral Boards know that someone was a Serb and automatically handed him a pink ballot? That was the most drastic example of the violation of the Constitution, and the difference of 5,221 votes in favour of individual lists can be explained by the fact that many Serbs complained for not being allowed to vote for the state lists.

The state thus admits that there are over 200,000 Serbs, but only about 55,000 turned out at the elections and when we add those who abstained because they wished to avoid humiliation, and subtract the "dead souls", those claiming that only about 100 thousand Serbs have remained in Croatia seem to be right. One absurdity after another, which would in any democratic state call in question the regularity of the elections, for how can elections be held at all if it is not even approximately known who actually has the right of vote?

But, who really wants to know? For how else to explain that at the time the Electoral Law was passed it was decided that the so called diaspora, composed of all the citizens of Croatia who do not have permanent residence in Croatia, would elect as many as 12 equitable deputies. First, it was claimed that they numbered 2 to 3 million, then about 800,000, then 600,000, finally to fall to only 361,000 of which as many as 303,000 are in Bosnia and Hezegovina. Let alone the fact that this is an unprecedented example of citizens of a sovereign state in which they are a constituent people electing the Parliament of another state, it is a true farce that 108,000 voters in diaspora who voted elected 12 deputies, naturally from HDZ. It turns out that a person in "diaspora" is 12 and more times valuable than a true citizen of Croatia, because an average electoral unit in the country has about 130,000 registered voters. In addition, the diaspora was much more clever than the parent state because it had only 1,45 percent invalid ballots.

GOJKO MARINKOVIC