ZAGREB, 3 Jan 2022 - The organizing committees for two referendum petitions initiated by the Bridge party cost a total of HRK 428,300 (€57,106), the organizers revealed on Monday.
The cost of the collection of signatures for the referendum petitions was capped at HRK 8 million each.
From 4 to 18 December, the Bridge party collected signatures at over 1,200 venues across Croatia for the two referendum petitions: one for the transfer of the powers of the national COVID-19 crisis management team to the parliament, where all decisions concerning COVID crisis management should be approved by a two-thirds majority, and the other one for the abolition of COVID passes.
The referendum activities lasted from 2 December to 2 January, the organizers said on Monday.
The costs include the lease of venues, banking services, transport, advertisement, printing services, etc.
The costs incurred for the initiative to have COVID certificates revoked stand at HRK 203,700.
The organizers said they had raised 205,000 in donations for the initiative to rescind COVID certificates. The bulk of that amount, or HRK 170,000, was provided by the Bridge party, whereas citizens Ivan Pehar and Željko Ilijašević donated HRK 30,000 and HRK 5,000 respectively.
According to the organizers, HRK 224,600 was spent on the initiative for the transfer of the powers of the national COVID-19 crisis management team to the parliament.
The donations for this purpose came to HRK 218,800, with Bridge itself donating HRK 180,000. Furthermore, individuals donated amounts ranging from HRK 50 to HRK 30,000, the maximum amount that can be donated by an individual in a referendum initiative.
When this opposition party started collecting signatures, the Justice and Public Administration Ministry established that the minimum required number should be 368,446 valid signatures, that is 10% of the country's electorate.
Bridge leader Božo Petrov told a news conference on 23 December that the party had collected about 400,000 signatures and that the boxes with the signatures would be delivered to the national parliament on 24 January.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)
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