ZAGREB, June 4, 2018 - Croatian Serb leader Milorad Pupovac said in an interview with the Večernji List daily that the Serb minority and the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) whose leader he is have been used as the key argument to persuade people to give their signatures for the referendum petition launched by "People Decide" civic group.
The referendum initiative is, among other things, about a possibility of scaling down the rights of parliamentary deputies representing ethnic minorities, which prompts Pupovac to label that initiative as an attempt to reduce the rights of all ethnic minorities.
Pupovac says in the interview published in the Monday issue of the daily newspaper that the both questions in the referendum initiative contain some elements aimed at reducing the volume to the rights which are provided to ethnic minorities in terms of their political representativeness. Furthermore, in Pupovac's mind, the possible referendum will pave the way for the segregation of ethnic minority parliamentary representatives in relation to other members of parliament.
"The People Decide" civil group insists that the main purpose of their drive is to hold a referendum on changes to the election system. The first question in their referendum initiative refers to the general regulations of the election system, the optimum election threshold, etc, while the second question is: "Do you want the Constitution to include an article under which ethnic minority representatives decide on all issues from the jurisdiction on the national parliament, except on the confidence vote in government and the state budget?"
Recently, one of the activists has said that the constitutional law specifies that national minorities should have five to eight seats in parliament while this group has proposed six and "that is in fact a 25% reduction, which is in proportion to the 25% decrease in the number of seats in parliament overall".
A few days ago, in her comment on referendum campaigns, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović said that she did not interfere in the matter of referendums but that she strongly believed that the will of the people had to be respected. "As far as I know, a sufficient number of signatures has been collected for one of the referendums. It is particularly important for us politicians and office-holders to take into account the will of the people. I would like the will of the people to be taken into account in other spheres of public life as well," she said then.
Grabar-Kitarović said that, by signing the referendum petition, citizens had shown that they wanted changes on Croatia's political scene and among its political elites. They have shown a wish to have the election law changed, which is legitimate, and that they want to participate more and have a greater role in the election of their direct representatives, she said then.
This prompted Pupovac to write on his Facebook profile that the president, first, says that she will not interfere in the matter of the referendum topics, however, she then does interfere. "And she interferes in the place that is equally relevant for all whom people elect: from parliamentary representatives to the president of Croatia," he noted.
Pupovac also underscores that the way the president interferes in the matter shows that she considers all other elected representatives to be a part of political elites, while she thinks she is only one office-holder owing to the will of people.
In addition, Pupovac writes that the whole statement made by President Grabar-Kitarović can be perceived as an attempt to "cater to the basest passions, including anti-minority sentiment and attitudes". Any representative of the people who forgets that there are the Constitution and laws between such office-holders and the people opens the door to "an uncontrollable and dangerous process", Pupovac writes on his Facebook.
The Italian minority representative Furio Radin has also reacted to the president's statement saying that he was surprised. He recalled that a few days ago the President promised him that she was against any interference into ethnic minority rights but now she advocates "shaking up the life in Croatia".
