“Referendum on referendums” initiative collects 315,000 signatures

A group of 15 trade unions and seven civil society organisations calling for “a referendum on referendums” have so far collected 315,000 signatures for their petition, the group’s coordinators said at a press conference in Zagreb on Thursday, appealing to the public to support their initiative over the remaining three days in order to “save direct democracy”.

On May 30 the unions and NGOs started collecting signatures for a referendum with two referendum questions: “Do you agree that 200,000 signatures should be enough for calling a referendum?” and “Do you agree that signatures should be allowed to be collected in areas where public assembly is allowed?”

They have to gather at least 381,709 signatures for each question by June 14, Public Administration Minister Arsen Bauk has said.

“We have three days left to save direct democracy in Croatia. If we fail to preserve the right to a referendum, we will be left without a tool with which we can protect citizens from the privatisation of health services, the sale of water resources, forests and islands, and a lot of bad political decisions,” the referendum initiative’s coordinator Zeljko Stipic said.