That referendum - by Richard... Tuesday, January 24, 2012

That referendum - by Richard... Tuesday, January 24, 2012

England Expects points out that the Croatian referendum was heavily rigged, giving some of the detail of how it was done. Witterings from Witney then makes the obvious but necessary point that, should we ever be given a referendum on the EU, it too would be rigged.

That is the way the "colleagues" play the game in EU politics. We have to play smarter.

Monday, January 23, 2012

A different view of the Croatian referendum

This has been sent through to me by Marjan Bošnjak of the

Only CroatiaParty,

it deserves a read.

I haven't checked

all the facts but

those

I do know about

stand up.

Contrary to

official claims,

the Croatian people did not overwhelmingly support

Croatia's membership

of the European Union.

In fact, most Croats abstained from the EU referendum resulting in a

record low participation level of only 43%, which means that even if

all those who turned out, voted in favour of EU membership, they would

still constitute a minority not only of voters, but of the Croatian

people.

At the first-ever referendum held in Croatia in 1991, the turnout

was 83.5%, of which 94% voted in favour of independence.

Fully aware that the Croatian People do not want to give up their

hard earned independence, the ruling elites changed the Croatian Constitution prior to the EU referendum to eliminate the rule

which invalidated any referendum unless 50 percent participation

was achieved.

Prior to the EU referendum, the Croatian people were subjected to

a massive North Korea-style pro–EU propaganda campaign, which

relentlessly extolled the benefits and virtues of

membership, and denigrated any attempts to say otherwise.

The Government spent huge amounts of public funds to pay for a

massive YES campaign, whilst denying any funding to the NO case.

In addition, the European Commision ran its own very expensive

YES campaign. State enterprises and corporations were also enlisted.

State Television aired pro-EU adverts for free or at discounted rates,

Croatia Post home delivered more than 2 million government leaflets

for free, and the City of Zagreb provided free EU advertising on its

trams.

The official referendum campaign was restricted to a four week period

at the height of winter and favoured the official YES case which had

almost exclusive access to the electronic media. It also exploited

seasonal distractions provided by Christmas and New Year celebrations

as well as winter school holidays.

The real referendum campaign had actually started much much earlier

and involved, not thousands, but tens of thousands, pro-EU advertisements

on radio and Television.

The 'Vecernji List' daily reported on 10.8.2011 that the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs and EU Integrations had in the two preceeding months

(June and July 2011) paid the broadcasting of more than 13 thousand

radio adverts and more than 2300 TV adverts on 80 radio stations,

6 national and 15 local TV stations. This massive propaganda campaign continued and even increased in scope and intensity over the next six

months leading up to the referendum.

The Austrian, German and Government-owned electronic and print media

( ie all the media in Croatia) blatantly supported the YES case and made

sure that the YES campaign was the only campaign. Hundreds of

sponsored 'information programs' were aired over many months

and even more 'informative' newspaper articles were printed.

The Catholic Church hierarchy, lavishly funded by the State, also

openly supported the YES case and seemed unconcerned that there

was no democratic public debate and no visible NO case.

In the last few weeks, the population was carpet-bombed by

advertisements and appeals on TV, radio and the print media from

the President, Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, Ministers, Actors,

Singers and Sportsmen to choose EU prosperity and happiness

over isolation and poverty.

Just days before the referendum, Foreign minister Vesna Pusić

shamelessly threatened Croatia's 1.2 million pensioners that they

would lose their pensions if they voted against EU membership.

The Zvijezda voting station in Zagreb, which covers several retirement

homes with about 1100 pensioners, reported an 80 percent vote in

favour of EU membership.

And the result of this massive propaganda campaign ? -A referendum

turnout of only 43% of all voters and a vote of 66% in favour of EU membership and 33% against.

And even this vote is somewhat suspect because Croatia has more voters

than citizens. According to the latest 2011 Population Census, Croatia

has a total population of only 4.29 million, yet according to the Electoral Commission it has 4,504,765 voters over 18 years of age eligible to vote.

In such blatantly undemocratic circumstances, it was impossible for

the Croatian People to make an informed decision and the EU

referendum therefore has no democratic legitimacy. It has all the

hallmarks of a sham.

It is clear that the EU referendum in Croatia was a swindle which did

not meet even the most basic democratic criteria, and whose sole purpose

was to elicit an affirmative vote.

We call on the Croatian Government and the political elites to recognise

the reality that the Croatian People have not freely and democratically

given their consent to the loss of their independence.

We call on the Croatian Government to do the right thing, to annul this

sham referendum, to organise a new, fair and democratic referendum,

and to give the Croatian People the opportunity to make a free and

informed decision about their future.

Should this not happen, we ask all the democratically minded Peoples

of existing EU members not to participate in this undemocratic swindle

of the Croatian People. We ask them and their National Parliaments to

block the ratification of Croatia's membership of the EU, until such time

as the Croatian People are given the right to decide freely at a fair, democratic and legitimate referendum.