Croatia: Whether the Electoral Registry records, or used to record, a person's ethnicity

1. Nationality in the Electoral Registry

In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a member of the Executive Committee of the Center for Peace Studies, a non-profit and non-governmental organization in Zagreb "that promotes non-violence and social change linking education, research and activism" (Center for Peace Studies n.d.), stated that, for parliamentary elections, ethnicity is recorded if someone is part of a minority ethnic group (ibid. 18 Mar. 2014). According to the Center for Peace Studies Executive Committee member, people who belong to an ethnic minority group are on a "special list" for voting (ibid.). A December 2006 joint European Commission and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Programme briefing paper about Roma participation in elections in South-Eastern Europe from 2003-2005, similarly states that "[a]ccording to the new law to vote for a minority candidate, people had to be registered in advance on a special 'minority voting list'" (17). A 3 February 2012 OSCE report on the OSCE's limited election observation mission of Croatia's 4 December 2011 parliamentary elections indicates that "[n]ational minority voters were printed on separate voter list excerpts" (3 Feb. 2012, 8).

According to Article 9 of the 1992 Law on Lists of Voters,

[t]he list of voters has the following sections: ordinal number, last and first name, nationality, personal identification number, sex, date of birth, place of residence (street and number, village, hamlet, settlement) and remarks.

A register is kept along with the list of voters in which the voters are registered alphabetically by their surnames. The register can be kept separately and with every volume of the list of voters.

The register has the following sections: ordinal number, last and fist name, nationality, place of residence and ordinal number of the list of voters i.e. volume of the list of voters ... (Croatia 1992)

The 1999 Report Submitted by Croatia Pursuant to Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, submitted to the Council of Europe, states that

[n]ationality is, therefore, defined by the law as one of the data required for registering Croatian citizens with a right to vote. This datum enables the persons belonging to certain national minorities to exercise their electoral right, in a manner prescribed by specific electoral legislation, to elect representatives to the Croatian State Sabor [parliament] on the basis of national identity.

When the elections are called, within a certain period of time prescribed by law, citizens may state their objections with respect to the voters' register, before the voters' registers are finally closed prior to the elections. Within that period of time, before the voters' registers for the elections are closed, citizens may also state their objections with respect to their national identity declared in the register, depending on whether they wish to exercise their right to vote as members of a national minority. After the voters' registers are closed, voters' register statements, which are used during the elections where the persons belonging to national minorities may exercise their special electoral rights, are printed together with the data on nationality for each of the national minorities in question.

At the same time, a person belonging to a national minority who chooses not to exercise his electoral right on the basis of nationality, may exercise his right to vote like other citizens of the Republic, independently of his national identity. (Croatia 16 Mar. 1999, 30)

Several other sources indicate that national minority voters can choose to vote in either the general parliamentary elections ["for candidates of their regular constituency" (OSCE 3 Feb. 2012, 5)] or for candidates on the national minority list (Venice Commission 16 July 2007, 6; US 27 Feb. 2014, 13; OSCE 3 Feb. 2012, 5). The OSCE indicates that 8 members of parliament "represent the 22 constitutionally recognized minorities of Croatia in 6 separate elections under a majoritarian system. Within this constituency, 3 seats are reserved for the Serb minority and 5 for the other 21 minorities" (ibid.).

According to the Commission of the European Communities, a new February 2007 law "on voters' registers introduced improvements in the maintenance of voter lists" (6 Nov. 2007). A copy of the new law could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. A 2010 report by the Croatian Government in response to the "Advisory Committee on Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Croatia" indicates that, according to the 2007 law,

[i]f the records serving as a basis for the entry of a voter in the voter's list contain no data on his/her ethnic affiliation, such data are entered based on a declaration made by the voter before the competent authority in compliance with Article 13 of the Voters' Lists Act, which provides that each citizen is entitled to review his/her entry in the voters' list and seek its update or correction throughout the year and, once the elections are called, no later than 14 days before the date for which the elections are scheduled ... (Croatia 6 Dec. 2010, 12)

A joint report by the Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which provides information on the 2007 law when it was a "draft law," indicates that

[t]he Draft Law Explanation indicates that information on the ethnicity of citizens had been recorded for decades. It is also said, however, that by the end of 2002 that information, contained in residential registration records, had been deleted. As a result, the information transmitted to the competent authorities for inclusion in voter lists no longer contains information about ethnicity. (16 July 2007, 10)

Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

The Venice Commission and the OSCE report also provides the following information about ethnicity in the voters' list:

Various issues have been observed in past elections with respect to the use of information on the ethnicity of voters. Such information in voter registers was often found to be incomplete or incorrect. During the 2003 parliamentary elections, separate voter list extracts were prepared containing the names of voters belonging to the groups of recognised national minorities who are entitled to elect special minority representatives. (In the event, some voters expressed concern about being listed in separate extracts, and in any event many of them chose to vote instead in the regular elections). Meanwhile, any voter could request a ballot for the special elections instead of a regular one. (ibid., 10-11)

Without providing details, Freedom House also reports on "the faulty voter registration list" that was "linked to voting irregularities in previous elections" (2012).

2. Sources of Information for Electoral Registry

According to the Venice Commission and the OSCE, the

inclusion of voters on the voter lists is currently based on "information from records of Croatian citizenship and residence, other public documents or other credible proof". The main sources of such information are from municipal registrars and police departments - which maintain records on citizenship, personal identification (ID) and residence - but also may involve other government bodies such as municipal courts (e.g., with respect to adjudications of incompetence). (16 July 2007, 5)

Sources also list other sources of information used in voters' lists, including:

civil registration records (ibid., 3);

"records of citizenship, permanent residence, travel documents, and records of addresses for people residing abroad" (OSCE 3 Feb. 2012, 7);

self-declaration of belonging to a national minority group (ibid., 5).

The Croatian government reportedly stated that "several authorities" are responsible for the accuracy of voters' lists, including police districts or stations, registry offices, municipal courts, and diplomatic missions and consular offices outside of Croatia (Croatia 6 Dec. 2010, 11).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Center for Peace Studies. 18 March 2014. Telephone interview with a member of the Executive Committee.

_____. N.d. "CMS - Center for Peace Studies." [Accessed 18 Mar. 2014]

Commission of the European Communities. 6 November 2007. Croatia 2007 Progress Report. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

Croatia. 1992. Law on Lists of Voters. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

_____. 6 December 2010. Comments of the Government of Croatia on the Third Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Croatia. GVT/COM/III(2010)004 <<http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=search&docid=4d00b9b52&skip=0&query=voter%20registration&coi=HRV> [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

_____. 16 March 1999. Report Submitted by Croatia Pursuant to Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. ACFC/SR(1999)005. <<http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=search&docid=4ee097a32&skip=0&query=voter%20registration&coi=HRV> [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

European Commission and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). December 2006. "Briefing Paper: Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues." [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

Freedom House. 2012. Nations in Transit. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 3 February 2012. Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Parliamentary Elections: OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission Final Report. [Accessed 14 Mar. 2014]

United States (US). 27 February 2014. Department of State. "Croatia." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 16 July 2007. Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Voters Lists of Croatia. CDL-AD (2007) 030. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2014]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Attempts to contact the Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia in New York and the Embassy of Croatia in Washington were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response. The Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Ottawa and the Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia in Toronto were unable to provide information for this Response.

Internet sites, including: Croatia - Embassy in Ottawa, Parliament, State Electoral Commission; ecoi.net; Factiva; Hein Online; United Nations - Integrated Regional Information Networks, Refworld.