Any amendments to electoral legislation, including on the election of members of parliament, are conditional on agreement with the opposition and such changes will not be adopted without an agreement, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said at a government session on Thursday.
The government gave a positive opinion on amendments to the law on the election of the president, moved by the parliamentary group of the ruling SDP party.
“Any significant amendment to the law is possible and acceptable in agreement, in a consensus, with the opposition,” Milanovic said, adding that there was no significant amendment of electoral rules without agreeing on “what is acceptable to all.”
He recalled that rules on the election of MPs were amended in the autumn of 1999 ahead of a parliamentary election, “by agreement between those in power and the opposition,” reiterating that the same should apply to next year’s election.
As for his SDP’s bill of amendments to the law on the election of the president, Milanovic said the changes were not major ones because the election was a couple of months away. “They are certain corrections within the limits of what is allowed.”
Also today, the government endorsed a final report on the 2011 population census. Science and Education Minister Vedran Mornar said the census cost HRK 117 million, 20 million less than the 2001 census.