MINELREL-L Archive (10051999-19:40:26-8223)

AIM: Serbian representatives as a stake in Croat negotiations


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Subject: AIM: Serbian representatives as a stake in Croat negotiations


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Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>

AIM: Serbian representatives as a stake in Croat negotiations


aim/zag/pubs/zd
 
*** SERBIAN REPRESENTATIVES AS A STAKE IN NEGOTIATIONS
 
AIM ZAGREB, September 16, 1999
 
Although at his recent meeting with Milorad Pupovac, President of the
Serbian National Council, Franjo Tudjman promised that the authorities
would not infringe upon the already secured Serbian rights in the
future, the HDZ has prepared another unpleasant surprise for the
Croatian Serbs. According to the new draft law on elections which,
pending parliamentary debate, the HDZ has presented to the public,
instead of three as until now, the Serbs would have just one delegate
same as other minorities. This was a step backward in the already
limited electoral rights of the Serbian minority.
 
Immediately after the draft law was published, parliamentary delegates
and representatives of the Serbian National Council Milan Djukic and
Veselin Pejnovic said that they would call the Serbs to boycott the
elections in case the draft is adopted. They called the draft
dishonest and below any level of civil and human dignity. Veselin
Pejnovic also said that he thought that the Serbs should have four
delegates as their number in Croatia has increased since the last
elections. Djukic was of a similar opinion.
 
Milorad Pupovac, the third current Serbian representative and
President of the Serbian National Council also expressed his protest
against the proposed law. However, he was against the boycott and
believed that negotiations with the authorities could ensure the
preservation of the present electoral model. However, if it were up to
him voters should elect at least six Serbian delegates at the next
elections. Namely, Pupovac proposed that the number of Serbian voters
in Croatia should be divided by 30 thousand, which was an average
number of votes an elected representative of Croatian political
parties could get at the last elections. Since, according to his
information, there were over 210 thousand voters of the Serbian
nationality in Croatia, a  separate electoral unit would elect six to
seven Serbian delegates.
 
However, it is hard to expect that the influential authors of the law
would accept Pupovac's idea on linking the last elections with the new
election model. The fact that six delegates represent about 5 percent
of the total number of Serbian voters in relation to the number of
voters in Croatia, is in favour of Pupovac's proposal. Naturally,
these are only estimates, as there are no official data and the police
files are accessible only to the HDZ. Opposition parties do not wish
to get involved in these affairs and mostly try to avoid them unless
directly asked by journalists. Still, some have understood that
exerting pressure in favour of a minority could also help opposition
candidates.
 
Jasna Omejec, a member of the Liberal Party and author of the
opposition's draft electoral law, pointed to a provision according to
which voters would have to decide whether they want to cast their vote
in a special electoral unit or vote as "normal" voters. Omejec
proposed the adoption of the "and - and" system so that a minority
voter could vote both for the ballot of a party of his political
choice (this year elections in Croatia are held according to a
proportionate system and only party ballots can be voted for) and once
again in a special minority unit according to his ethnic choice. Jasna
Omejec expressed her fear that HDZ's "right of option" would deprive
them of the minority electors' votes as they think that minority
voters would much rather vote for an opposition list than for the HDZ.
 
If most of the minority members decide to vote on special lists, the
opposition would lose these potential votes. Jasna Omejec was in
favour of a solution according to which the Serbs would have four
seats in Parliament, as already explained by Pejnovic: at the last
elections they had three delegates and since then the number so Serbs
in Croatia has undoubtedly grown.
 
The international community will probably not remain indifferent in
regard to the final form of the electoral model for minorities. A
deadline by which the Croatian Government is obliged to revise the
suspended Constitutional Law on Minorities which gave the Serbs the
right to be proportionately represented and have local
self-government, expires is October. The Government promised to the
Council of Europe to put back in force that law or to adopt a
completely new text which would meet the international standards.
Vladimir Seks, HDZ Vice-President said recently that the new
Constitutional law would not include a provision according to which
minorities with more than 8 percent of members in relation to the
total number of the population can be proportionately represented.
Seks said no more, but it is expected that the new law will be changed
so as to grant greater rights to minorities. Maybe there is a chance
for the provision on the proportionate representation of the Serbs to
come into being with the assistance of foreign powers since the
Croatian Government has made such a promise to Serbs at the time of
the reintegration of Eastern Slavonia into the Croatian legal system.
 
After the operation "Storm" in 1995, the Serbs have lost the right to
have the number of representatives which would be in proportion to
their share in the total population. At that time the Parliament
summarily suspended the Constitutional Law on Minorities which granted
the right to minorities with more than 8 percent of members to be
proportionately represented and have local self-government in the
areas in which they are the majority. According to 1991 population
census the Serbs had 12.7 percent of inhabitants which gave them the
right to have 13 delegates out of the total 120 Parliamentary
delegates. At the 1992 elections 13 Serbian representatives from
various parties were elected (most of them were SDP members). However,
at the 1995 elections the Serbs got only three seats in a special
electoral unit. The authorities gave no explanation how did they
arrive at this number, there was no fuss in the public and the Serbian
organisations kept quiet. Simply, the atmosphere after the "Storm" was
not adequate for such debates.
 
Before the elections the number of Serbian electors should be first
precisely determined. At the 1995 elections 172 thousand people were
registered in a special Serbian electoral unit. Jure Radic, Minister
for Reconstruction confirmed that about 60 thousand Serbs have
returned from their exile in FR Yugoslavia and B&H (the Republic of
Srpska) out of which the majority had the right to vote as these were
mostly senior citizens. According to the provisions of the proposed
electoral law all Croatian citizens shall have the right to vote
irrespective where they are at the time of the elections so that the
Serbs will have the possibility of exercising this right in diplomatic
and consular offices of Croatia abroad.
 
It is hard to tell what will the election model of the Croatian Serbs
look like. Tudjman's HDZ is following with set teeth the participation
of Serbs in public life and were it not for the international
observers it would have never let the Serbs into Parliament. Its
relation towards minorities is best reflected in the data that the HDZ
has come up of a rather humiliating method of representation for the
delegates of German, Austrian, Jewish, Ruthenian and Ukrainian
minorities which should take turns each nine months and fifteen days
at one delegate seat. Even the HDZ has admitted that this was not in
accordance with the Constitution after the warning issued by the
experts on elections.
 
But, if it is forced to let the Serbs into Parliament, the HDZ will
use them as a stake in its bargaining with the opposition and the
international community: the realists expect them to give in during
parliamentary debate on the new election law and keep the existing
three Serbian delegates. Serbian politicians in Croatia will have to
invest great efforts in order to secure this result.
 
#IGOR VUKIC
 
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