engleski

Constitutionalization of the citizens'initiative referendum in Croatia: one step forward, many steps back

A citizens’initiative referendum was constitutionalized in Croatia with the second Revisionof the Constitution of the Republicof Croatia, which took place at the end of 2000. In principle, it was an extraordinary democratic step forward in the context of Article1(3)of theConstitution, according to which the people exercise the power through the election of representatives and direct decision-making. However, the acceptanceof this instrumentof direct democracy in such a broad form that is practically unknown to developed democracies was not taken into account with duecaution. All scholarlywarnings aboutthe possible misuse and the need for comparative analyses have been ignored. Also, with another Revision of the Constitution, which took place in 2010, the original procedural limit (i.e., the turnout of 50% of the electorate) was removed, and from then on, any decision on the referendum is legally binding if voted by a majority of those who voted. In the same year, the first popular initiative was instituted. Althoughthe only successful popular initiative was introduced in 2013 (and it resulted inthe Revision of the Constitution), the fact is that the current referendum regulation in Croatia generally does not fulfill its purpose. Besides, the history of the citizens’initiatives in Croatia shows that inadequate regulation of a referendum can lead the country to the verge ofapolitical and constitutional crisis. In this context, this paper aims to identify numerous problems in Croatian law on the referendum and propose solutions forits improvement.

citizens’initiative referendum ; Constitution ; Croatia

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