The government on Thursday sent to parliament a draft voters' registration law which envisages the establishment of a single centralised electronic database of all eligible voters in Croatia.
Public Administration Minister Arsen Bauk said that the electronic system would provide for two types of records: a register of voters and a list of voters.
The register is an electronic database of all entitled voters: those with permanent residence in Croatia, those without permanent residence in Croatia and European Union citizens.
A list of voters is an ad hoc voters' roll made in the run-up to each election, Minister Bauk said, explaining that this procedure would guarantee the accuracy and updating of voters' lists ahead of elections.
The list of voters is part of the electronic register and is closed no later than eight days before the election day or referendum day.
The new legislation will also bring order to the voters' rolls, the result of which would be the downsizing of the current 4.1 million voters to an estimated 3.8 million, according to the minister.
The proposed legislation also envisages a possibility of an institute of active registration for Croatian citizens with no permanent residence in Croatia who would like to vote in Croatian parliamentary and presidential elections and in elections of Croatian deputies to the European parliament as well as at state referenda.
The active registration would be conducted, ahead of the above-mentioned types of elections, in Croatian embassies and consulates abroad and relevant agencies in the country.
This means that we will no longer have 450,000 voters in the diaspora but the number will be according to how many voters are registered ahead of each election, Bauk said.
