Croat Family Values Group Demand Electoral Reform

The right-wing campaigning group that pushed successfully last year for a referendum outlawing the possibility of gay marriage is now turning its attention to electoral reform.

On Wednesday, Zeljka Markic, a member of In the Name of the Family, announced that they were collecting signatures for the referendum on the way people vote.

This initiative gained prominence in 2013 when it successfully demanded a referendum on the constitutional definition of marriage, defining it as an exclusively heterosexual union.

The latest initiative seeks to alter election regulations to introduce "preferential voting", the system already used for EU elections.

This would enable voters to choose candidates directly from election lists, regardless of their position on the list.

“The association is initiating this referendum, believing that the direct selection of MPs will bring forth capable new candidates who are responsible to voters, not to party presidents," she said.

The head of the association, Lino Zonjic, said the current electoral system was deeply unjust and undemocratic.

“It should not be important whether someone is on good terms with the party president, but how big his electoral support is - the number of voters of this country who think he represents their values,” Zonjic said.

The group gathered almost 750,000 signatures last year for the referendum on marriage, outflanking the country's centre-left government and largely bypassing established right-of-centre opposition parties.