GONG is a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

from

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

that oversees

elections in Croatia Regular elections in Croatia are mandated by the Constitution and legislation enacted by Parliament. The presidency, Parliament, county prefects and assemblies, city and town mayors, and city and municipal councils are all elective offices. Sin ...

. They were formed in 1997 and the name GONG was an acronym of ' meaning "Citizens organize to oversee voting", but in 2000 the organization changed its name to simply GONG. Prior to the

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

and the

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

elections in 1997, GONG was created at the initiative of the Coordination of organizations for the protection and promotion of human rights from across Croatia. However, the Election Commission of the Republic of Croatia did not allow GONG's observers access to the polling stations, saying their presence was not defined by the electoral law. The

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(OSCE) criticized the government for doing this and claiming it made the elections "free, but not fair". GONG and the

Croatian Helsinki Committee The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (CHC; , HHO) is an organisation founded to protect and promote human rights in Croatia. It was founded on 31 March 1993, initially as a branch of the International Helsinki Federation and latterly ...

appealed to the

Croatian Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia () is an institution that acts as the interpreter and guardian of the Croatian Constitution and which monitors the conformity of laws with the Constitution as well as protection of human rights ...

, which responded positively the following year, after which they were allowed to monitor all later elections. GONG conducts

get out the vote "Get out the vote" or "getting out the vote" (GOTV) describes efforts aimed at increasing the voter turnout in elections. In countries that do not have or enforce compulsory voting, voter turnout can be low, sometimes even below a third of the e ...

campaigns and promotes transparency in

political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracy, democracies, political campaigns often refer to election, electoral campaigns, by which representatives a ...

funding. The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

's Directorate-General for Enlargement's Civil Society Development conference recognized GONG as one of the main good governance and democratisation organizations in Croatia.

References

External links

* Elections in Croatia Anti-corruption organizations Government agencies of Croatia 1997 establishments in Croatia Organizations established in 1997 {{Croatia-election-stub

References

Further reading

External links