A total of 124,457 signatures were collected of the 450,000 required for the Croatian parliament to call a referendum on Croatia‘s accession to NATO, the NATO Referendum Committee said on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, April 15 (Hina) – A total of 124,457 signatures were collected of the 450,000 required for the Croatian parliament to call a referendum on Croatia’s accession to NATO, the NATO Referendum Committee said on Tuesday.
Still, the committee considers the petition successful and the turnout significant, and will request parliament to call the referendum nonetheless.
Spokesman Aleksandar Hatzivelkos told the press in Zagreb the committee would also ask parliament to amend the Referendum Act, considering it too demanding and not compliant with democratic practice.
The committee will ask that the number of signatures required for calling a referendum should be 2.5% of eligible voters and the time for collecting them 30 days, as well as that the obligation to take the signatory’s personal data be erased.
Hatzivelkos said the committee managed to organise the collection of signatures at 138 points in 84 cities, including six foreign countries, with donations of only HRK 23,000. He added that more than 60 associations were involved in the drive, that the highest number of signatures, about 55,000, was collected in Zagreb, and that the drive cost 100 times less than election campaigns.
(Hina) ha