Zagreb - Parliament decided on Friday to change the Constitution and the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court regarding referenda, with 80 MPs voting for, while 19 were against and 11 abstained.
The motion to change the Constitution was proposed by 92 MPs. In the autumn, the changes should be drawn up. The third step will be the actual change of the Constitution, which requires the support of a two-thirds majority, or 101 MPs.
The Social Democratic Party did not take part in the vote because its amendment, to include a woman's right to choose giving birth, among other changes in the Constitution, was rejected.
Branko Bačić of the ruling HDZ said that if the opposition did not wish to regulate the referenda framework, the majority would drop the constitutional changes and adopt a new referendum law.
Bridge, the Croatian Peasant Party, the Homeland Movement, the Istrian Democratic Party, and For a Just Croatia said they would not vote for the constitutional changes.
Davorko Vidović of the Social Democrats said this party was for a comprehensive debate on constitutional reforms.