Statistical data: 1 January 1997 - 30 April 1997

• Cases concerning the conformity of laws with the Constitution:
received 176, resolved 77;
in 45 cases provisions of unconstitutional laws were repealed;
in 13 cases proposals to review the constitutionality of laws were not accepted, in 19 cases the procedure was terminated.
• Cases concerning the conformity of other regulations with the Constitution and laws:
received 23, resolved 30;
in 2 cases the proposals to review the constitutionality and legality of regulations were not accepted, in 10 cases the proposal was dismissed and in 18 cases the procedure was terminated.
• Cases concerning the protection of constitutional rights:
received 150, resolved 108;
in 17 cases the constitutional action was accepted, in 43 cases rejected, in 37 cases dismissed, in 8 cases the procedure was terminated and in 3 cases the petitioners were instructed on the right to submit a constitutional action.
• Cases concerning jurisdictional disputes among legislative, executive and judicial branches:
received 1, resolved 1.
• Cases concerning supervision of the constitutionality of the programs and activities of political parties:
received none, resolved none.
• Cases concerning supervision of the constitutionality and legality of elections and electoral disputes which do not fall within the jurisdiction of other courts:
received 139, resolved 139;
in 36 cases the proposals were accepted, in 91 cases rejected, in 2 cases dismissed, in 1 case the procedure was terminated and in 9 cases the petitioners were instructed about their rights.
• Cases concerning appeals to suspend temporarily the execution of individual acts based on a provision of law the constitutionality of which is under review or of acts disputed by constitutional action:
received 2, resolved 6;
6 cases were dismissed.

On February 25th 1997 Milan Vukovic, who until then was a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, became president of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia.

Local and parliamentary elections were held on 13 April 1997: elections for authorities in municipalities and counties and for one house of the republic parliament, Sabor, the House of Counties.

All electoral decisions in this issue concern these elections. The term "decision" used here is a general term which includes second instance rulings of the Constitutional Court following an appeal against a ruling of the first instance of an electoral commission and also notifications and admonitions issued in general super-vision of constitutionality and legality of elections. The public was informed about all of these decisions through the media.

Important decisions

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -001
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 08.01.1997 / e) U-IV-947/1996 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 2/1997, 98-100 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Legislative bodies - Powers.
Institutions - Courts - Jurisdiction.
Institutions - Courts - Organisation - Members - Discipline.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards - Fair trial - Impartiality.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Judge, exclusion / Judge, challenging.

Headnotes:
The State Judiciary Council itself decides on the motion for the exclusion of its president and/or of its members in disciplinary proceedings conducted before it against a president of a court or a judge.
Denial of exclusion in cases of disciplinary proceedings before the State Judiciary Council would mean the acceptance of partial judges in some cases, which would be a violation of the constitutional right to a fair trial.

Summary:
The decision concerns the conflict of jurisdiction between legislative and judicial bodies, in this case between the House of Counties of the Parliament and the State Judiciary Council which appoints judges, relieves them of duty and deals with their disciplinary responsibility.
A president of a court and a judge may appeal to the House of Counties against decisions by which punish-ments are imposed upon them in disciplinary proceedings before the State Judiciary Council.
In disciplinary proceedings against him, the then president of the Supreme Court of the Republic made a motion for the exemption of the president of the State Judiciary Council and two of its members, justifying the motion by the circumstances which made their impartiality doubtful.
The State Judiciary Council deferred the motion to the House of Counties, which also declared its incompetence in cases of exemption, and expressed the view that exemption is not acceptable in proceedings before the State Judiciary Council.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -002
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 29.01.1997 / e) U-l-697/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 11/1997, 678-683 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
General Principles - Rule of law - Certainty of the law.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Equality - Criteria of distinction.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right to property - Privatisation.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Flats, privatisation / Property, socially owned / Privatisation, pricing.

Headnotes:
If the legislator establishes differences among subjects who are in the same position, these differences must be objectively founded and acceptable from the point of view of the Constitution.
There is no constitutional ground for differences between buyers of flats on the basis of the legal entity which is the seller of the flat - whether it is the state or other subjects - or the way in which the flats were acquired in the first place.
The State, when it sells the same commodity as other sellers - namely flats burdened by rights of tenants who live in them - should not be in a position essentially different from the position of other sellers.
The legal provision which defines a flat as adequate if one person is allocated one room with a surface up to 17 square metres is insufficiently precise to be consistent with the principles of the rule of law and legal certainty.

Summary:
In this case nine provisions in the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Sale of Flats with Tenancy Rights were repealed.
These Amendments changed the position of tenants essentially as compared with their position in legal text before the Amendments.
The Court held that it is possible and sometimes even necessary to introduce differences, but these should be a result of objectively and legally relevant circumstances, such as different economic conditions, changes of laws which are being brought into conformity with the Constitution, new laws concerning ownership and the land register, improved care for war invalids or changes of stability of domestic currency.
Acts regulating the sale of flats to tenants who live in them are transitional regulations through which the state changes its legislation to bring it into conformity with the Constitution which has eliminated socially owned property and tenancy rights based on such property. This privatisation is carried out through the sale of flats under more favourable conditions than market ones, because the majority of tenants would not be able to buy the flats they live in at the market prices.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -003
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 05.02.1997 /e)U-lll-231/1995/f)/g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - General questions – Entitlement to rights - Foreigners.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Equality - Scope of application - Citizenship.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards - Non-litigious administrative procedure.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Evidence, submission / Documentation required, information by administration.

Headnotes:
The constitutional guarantee of equal treatment of all citizens before the law is violated if a party in the proceedings is not informed which documents are required for realisation of a right he/she wishes to achieve. Since the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Administrative Court did not inform the petitioner in the proceedings about the necessary documentation invite him to present necessary documentation, and did not state in the disputed acts which documents are necessary to classify someone as a "member of the Croatian ethnic community" the above mentioned bodies have violated that person's constitutional rights.

Summary:
A citizen of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia applied for Croatian citizenship on the grounds of the provision which - among other prerequisites – demands the written statement that he/she considers himself/herself a Croatian citizen and his claim was denied.
The denial contained the point that there was no enclosed documentation which proves that the claimant considers himself to be a member of the Croatian ethnic community.
The constitutional action was accepted and the case returned to the competent body for renewal of procedure.

Languages:Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -004
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 04.03.1997 /e)U-VII-152/1997 /f)/g) /h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Equality - Scope of application - Elections.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral candidature / Electoral irregularities, substantial venues.

Headnotes:
In electoral procedure only those irregularities which had substantially affected, or could have affected, the results of the elections are annulled. The fact that the com-plainant was not allowed to put a desk in a public place in order to collect signatures to support his independent candidacy is not such an irregularity.

Summary:
The Court held that the appeal is unfounded because the complainant could have collected the required signatures in some other manner, not only by putting up a desk in a public place.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -005
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 05.03.1997 / e) U-V1I-162/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 26/1997, 1257-1258 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Equality - Scope of application - Elections.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Procedural safeguards - Access to courts.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral candidature / Electoral lists, changes.

Headnotes:
Denial of legal remedy against a decision of a county Electoral Commission violates constitutional rights.

Summary:
The Serb National Party had - after the time for submitting lists of candidates had expired but before the expiry of the time for publication of the final list of all proposed candidates - applied to the Electoral Commis-sion of the Republic for correction of an error in a list of candidates.
The Electoral Commission decided that after the expiry of the time for lists of proposed candidates to be submitted it was no longer possible to correct the lists.
The Court accepted the appeal against that decision and returned the case for renewal of procedure before the Electoral Commission. It found that the Electoral Commission of the Republic had no jurisdiction in this case because a request for a correction relating to a list of candidates may only be submitted to the electoral commission to which the proposal of the list of candidates has been submitted and so the Electoral Commission should have referred the request to the competent electoral commission or informed the Party to do so. By not doing so, the Electoral Commission of the Republic denied the Party a legal remedy against a decision of the competent county electoral commission.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -006
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 10.03.1997 / e) U-VII-192/1997, U-VII-193/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 28/1997, 1342-1343 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights-Civil and political rights-Equality - Scope of application - Elections.
Fundamental Rights-Civil and political rights-Rights in respect of the audiovisual media and other means of mass communication.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral campaign, media coverage / Electoral coalitions.

Headnotes:
The provision in Program Rules of Croatian Radio Television which attributes the same treatment to a coalition of several parties and to a party acting independently is not consistent with the electoral laws.
Electoral laws guarantee to all candidates and all political parties the right to present and to expound their election programs under equal conditions.
The Croatian Radio Television has to grant equal time to each political party participating in the elections in order to present its electoral program, regardless of the fact whether it appears in the election independently or as a member of a coalition.

Summary:
Two political parties disputed those provisions in the Program Rules for covering of elections those of their provisions according to which a coalition of several parties shall enjoy the same treatment as a single party acting independently.
The disputed provisions were annulled and two rulings of the Electoral Commission of the Republic-according to which the objections of the parties were refused -repealed.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -007
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 26.03.1997 / e) U-VI 1-245/1996 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 33/1997, 1418-1419 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights-Civil and political rights-Equality - Scope of application - Elections.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, observers / Elections, minutes, access / Directive.

Headnotes:
The sense and objective of including observers in electoral procedure are basically the same as those of including representatives of political parties. Thus it follows that they should have equal rights.
Observers in election proceedings have the same right concerning the minutes of electoral body as representa-tives of political parties, namely they are also entitled to a photocopy of the minutes.

Summary:
The decision concerns mandatory directives issued by the Electoral Commission of the Republic of Croatia. The Court held that the disputed directive is not clearly formulated and lacks precision because it grants the right to receive a photocopy of the minutes to a political party, but not to observers.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1-008
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 26.03.1997 / e) U-ll-136/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 33/1997, 1417-1418 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Executive bodies - Territorial administrative decentralisation - Municipalities.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Equality - Scope of application - Elections.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index:
Municipal bodies, mandate / Local self-administration. Headnotes:
The mandate of members of a Municipality Council expires in case of new elections even if it did not last four years.

Summary:
The subject of review were Decisions of the Government concerning elections in all local units. The proposal claimed that the Decisions should not concern the Municipality Council in G.K. because its mandate started only recently, in 1995, after the dissolution of the previous representative body. The proposal claimed that the Municipality Council's mandate in G.K. should last for the next four years.
The proposal was not accepted.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -009
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 27.03.1997 / e) U-VI1-257/1997 / f) / g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, reimbursement, deadlines / Campaign expenses, reimbursement.

Headnotes:
The Government of the Republic is obliged to respect deadlines set forth in electoral laws concerning the amount of reimbursement of electoral campaign expenses.

Summary:
The Government was warned that according to the electoral law the amount of reimbursement of expenses in electoral campaigns should be determined at the latest 20 days prior to the election day, a deadline which expired on 24 March 1997.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1-010
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 30.03.1997 / e) U-l-138/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 48/1997, 1801-1802 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - General questions – Entitlement to rights - Foreigners.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Equality - Scope of application - Citizenship.
Fundamental Rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to work.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Citizenship, profession / Medical profession, access.

Headnotes:
The provision which prescribes Croatian citizenship as one of the conditions for entering the medical profession is not unconstitutional: It is a matter of legislative policy to determine which professions foreigners are allowed to enter and under what conditions.

Summary:
The proposal to review the constitutionality of the Act on Health Protection was submitted by a member of the medical profession. The disputed provision prescribes the conditions which are to be fulfilled to start an independent private practice in health protection and one of these conditions is Croatian citizenship.
The loss of citizenship is also prescribed as a reason for loss of a right to perform such a practice.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -011
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 02.04.1997 / e) U-l-148/1996 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 36/1997, 1473/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Rights in respect of the audiovisual media and other means of mass communication.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Right to information.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Right  to property.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Shares, sale / Joint stock company.

Headnotes:
It is not unconstitutional if the statute of a joint stock company prescribes that the transfer of shares is subject to the approval of the company; the statute may also determine the reasons for refusing the approval.

Summary:
The proposal for the review of the constitutionality and legality of a provision in the Act on Joint Stock Companies was not accepted. The Court held that one becomes a shareholder voluntarily and by the acquisition of shares one also accepts the statute of the company. Since the shareholder is thus informed about certain limitations when acquiring the shares, it was his/her decision to accept or not to accept them.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -012
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 02.04.1997 / e) U-VII-271/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette) 35/1997, 1462-1463 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral campaign, media access / Media, State, access to archives.

Headnotes:
Each political party may obtain materials from the archives of the Croatian Radio Television which are part of historical documentation of this people under equal conditions.
The use of military uniform for the purposes of promoting a political party is not admissible.
It follows from the Defense Act that the armed forces, military personnel and persons in service in the armed forces are prohibited from taking part in a political activity and in the organisation of political parties and political gatherings and events. The armed forces are also not allowed to participate in gatherings, parades and demonstrations in uniform. Performance in uniform on TV is to be regarded as a form of participation in gatherings in uniform.

Summary:
A promotional video of the Croatian Democratic Union, shown on TV, which featured a singer dressed in a military uniform, was found inadmissible by the Court. The changes in the video were demanded before further broadcasting.
Supplementary information:
In decision U-VI 1-318/1997 of 10 April 1997, the Court also held that Croatian Radio Television is obliged to grant to every political party, under equal conditions, even for purposes of election promotion, access to and the possibility to use recordings from the archives which are part of the historical documentation of the Croatian people.

Languages:Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -013
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 04.04.1997 / e) U-VII-274/1997 / f) / g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
General Principles - Publication of laws.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Publication, municipal regulations/Electoral campaign, use of coat of arms.

Headnotes:
Only those regulations which have been published and are made known to the citizens are binding.

Summary:
A County Electoral Commission claimed that the Decision on the coat of arms and the flag of the town of B. became legally effective on the day it was rendered and that its effectiveness was not affected by the fact that it was not published in the county official gazette.
From that point of view the objection raised against prohibition of the use of the coat of arms of the town for the purposes of the electoral campaign was dismissed.
The Court found that the Decision on the coat of arms and the flag was not legally valid at the time of prohibition because it had not been published. Therefore there was no legal ground for prohibition of the use of the coat of arms for purposes of electoral campaign.

Languages: Croatia, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -014
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 07.04.1997 / e) U-VII-289/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 37/1997, 1479 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights-Civil and political rights-Rights in respect of the audiovisual media and other means of mass communication.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral campaign, media supervision.

Headnotes:
Supervision by the Electoral Commission of the Republic of the elections campaign should not concern only items broadcast in News and programs under the title "1997 Elections" but also reports, talk-shows and other programs, because all these programs may contain contributions which serve the purposes of the electoral campaign.

Summary:
The Electoral Commission of the Republic of Croatia held that only programs, contributions and reports broadcast by the Croatian Radio Television in the News and programs titled "1997 Elections" are to be considered part of the electoral campaign which is subject to the supervision of the Commission.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -015
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 07.04.1997 / e) U-VII-291/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 37/1997, 1479-1480 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral campaign, media supervision / Electoral broadcasts, standards.

Headnotes:
A promotional video which violates the constitutional principles of freedom, equality before the law and democratic multiparty system, electoral laws, Program Rules of the Croatian Radio Television and achievements of civilisation of the Republic of Croatia as a democratic state must not be broadcast.

Summary:
The Court demanded that the promotional video of the Croatian Democratic Union under the title "Neighbours" be withdrawn from circulation and broadcasting after it found that it violates constitutional, legal and moral norms and the Program Rules of the Croatian Radio Television itself.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -016
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 08.04.1997 / e) U-VII-295/1997, U-VII-297/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 37/1997, 1480-1481 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, corrections of lists.

Headnotes:
Grave and obvious errors in the published list of candidates may be eliminated by corrections done by electoral commission by which the list is approved off and published.
Corrections of lists cannot be undertaken at any time, and in particular not at the time when such a correction would obstruct rather than help lawful implementation of the elections. A correction done only ten days before the elections consisting in changing the order on the Collective list could affect results of the elections, which is a reason for its annulment.

Summary:
The Court annulled an act correcting a list of candidates for members of the city council rendered by the county electoral commission. The correction consisted in changing the order of the parties so that the complainants were moved from position number one to position number three on the list.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -017
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 08.04.1997 / e) U-VI 1-307/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 37/1997, 1480 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights-Civil and political rights-Rights in respect of the audiovisual media and other means of mass communication.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral campaign, media supervision / Electoral broadcast, standards.

Headnotes:
The use of a promotional video and a poster which present another party in such a way as to imply that today's party and its leaders represent the continuation of the repressive regime from the past is not permitted.

Summary:
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia submitted a motion for supervision of the constitutionality and legality of elections in connection with the promotional video of the Croatian Democratic Union. The video linked pictures of leaders of the Social Democratic Party with misdeeds of communists. The poster featured a picture of policemen arresting a young man. On that poster in large red letters it was written 'Work and honesty?" which was an allusion to the electoral slogan of the Social Democratic Party "Work and honesty".
The Court prohibited broadcasting of the video and demanded that the poster be used without the red letters "Work and honesty?"

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -018
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 10.04.1997 / e) U-VII-316/1997 / f) / g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Constitutional Justice - Decisions - Delivery and publication - Press.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, control.

Headnotes:
Croatian Radio Television and all other means of public information have the duty to publish and inform the public on the content of every decision rendered by the Constitutional Court exercising supervision of the constitutionality and legality of elections.

Summary:
The Croatian Radio Television was particularly ad-monished that the above rule also includes decisions of the Court concerning activities of Croatian Radio Television in covering the elections.

Languages:
Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -019
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 11.04.1997 / e) U-VII-323/1997, U-VII-324/1997 / f) / g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Equality - Scope of application - Elections.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights – Rights in respect of the audiovisual media and other means of mass communication.
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, media supervision / Elections, access to media.

Headnotes:
Effective supervision of the constitutionality and legality of elections implies immediate forwarding and publication of decisions concerning that supervision.
Croatian Radio Television is obliged not only to provide equal treatment for all parties in its informative and special broadcasts, but also to act in a manner which is not harmful to any party in the commercial promotion and not serve to favour any party.

Summary:
The Electoral Commission of the Republic passed a Notification and Admonition by which it decided that the promotional video "Vote for me" of the Croatian
Democratic Union was not to be broadcast any more. Nevertheless it did not forward its decisions immediately to all the parties concerned, but did so the next day, thus enabling many public and private TV stations to run the disputed video.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -020
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 20.04.1997 / e) U-VII-370/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 42/1997, 1614-1615 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Electoral law, infringement / Elections, ballot papers.

Headnotes:
Omission of a name of a candidate, the bearer of the list, from voting papers is an irregularity which could effect the results of elections.

Summary:
The Court accepted the appeal of the Independent Democratic Serbian Party, annulled the elections for members of the City council of the town of P. and ordered a re-run of elections.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-1997-1-021
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 21.04.1997 / e) U-VII-376/1997 / f) / g) Narodne novine (Official gazette), 43/1997,1442 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, errors / Elections, vote count, irregularity, relevance.

Headnotes:
The fact that there were errors in the count of votes in one voting place is not itself a reason to conclude that the same or similar errors took place in other voting places too.

Summary:
The Court did not accept the demand for a new count of votes in the electoral unit. It was held that the opposite opinion, namely that errors in one voting place are grounds for reasonable doubts about the regularity of elections in other voting places, would lead to the conclusion that one error in one voting place would mean the need to count the votes in the whole country again.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-1997-1-022
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 23.04.1997 / e) U-VII-387/1997 / f) / g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, D'Hondt's method.

Headnotes:
Although the relevant provision of electoral law provides no clear answer, from its sense it follows that the common divisor in a mathematical operation by which a number of seats is distributed is a full number without decimals.

Summary:
The number of seats in bodies of local units after elections is distributed by adapted D'Hondt's method explained in provisions of electoral laws. The Court did not accept the appeal which dealt with the differences between the results in case that the common divisor is 220 or that it is 220,71 rounded off as 221.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-1997-1 -023
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 23.04.1997 /e)U-VII-417/1997/f)/g) / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights -Electoral rights.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Elections, control / Electoral Commission, exclusive competence.

Headnotes:
Protection of election rights is performed through procedures prescribed by laws on the election of representative bodies. Unauthorised control is not legal.

Summary:
The Court warned the Electoral Commission of the town of M. that it did not act in compliance with electoral laws when it allowed representatives of local authorities (the mayor, the town secretary, the head of a department etc.) to perform a control of the election results after they claimed that there are indications of manipulations with the voting papers, especially those proclaimed to be invalid.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).