The conservative-backed civil initiative opposing the Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women did not collect enough signatures for a referendum to repeal the Convention, the initiative’s representatives said on Zagreb’s St. Mark’s Square on Wednesday.

The initiative needed to collect around 374,740 signatures, or 10 percent of the Croatian electorate, in two weeks (May 13-May 27) in order for the referendum to repeal the Convention to be called.

They have collected around 371,821 signatures.

The Croatian Parliament ratified the Istanbul Convention in April this year, with vocal opposition from the Catholic Church and conservative groups, and even some senior members of the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). They oppose the convention on combating violence against women because they fear that implementing the convention would require national legislation to recognise a third gender, and possibly redefine marriage.

“We are still counting signatures and the numbers are changing every second. We have achieved a phenomenal result, we are only a few thousand (signatures) short, and we are certain more than that will come,” the representatives said.

They added they have filed charges and notified the Ministry of Public Administration that we were prevented from collecting signatures in the cities of Rijeka, Gradec, Sisak, Samobor, and other places.

“We have collected a respectable number of signatures in extraordinary conditions, this story is not over,” Zeljko Sacic, a member of the initiative, said.

He added that they expect from the Ministry of Public Administration to grant them additional 15 days to collect signatures in places where that was “illegally denied.”

The members have called on President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic to get involved in solving the dispute because “it is her duty to coordinate the work of public offices.”
Some 95 percent signatures has been counted, Sacic said.

“Under the law on referendums, we can try again in six months,” Sacic said, adding he believed they woud be granted the additional 15 days.

“This figure is a victory for us, no matter what the media and politicians think,” said Rozalija Bartolic, another member of the initiative.

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