engleski

Country Report - Croatia

Popular sovereignty in Croatia may be exercised either by representation, or by direct democracy, i.e. by direct popular involvement in decision-making. The legal framework of direct democracy is provided by the constitution and by two laws: namely, the Referendum Act , and the Local self-government and Local Government Act . However, from the large number of possible constitutional options in the area of direct democracy , the Croatian constitution has chosen a rather limited approach. This led some scholars to note that certain forms of direct democracy, particularly popular initiatives, are omitted altogether in the constitutional text, and some other solutions are inadequately implemented . After an overview of the legal rules regulating the exercise of direct democracy in Croatia, I will demonstrate that the almost complete absence of national referendums over the last eight years of independence can be explained by a specific political consensus between the President of the Republic, the parliamentary majority and the government. I will also present relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court and try to determine to what extent the probability of referendums in Croatia depends on the institutional balance.

Referendum, direct democracy, Croatia

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