Electoral Fraud – A Criminological and Criminal Analysis in Croatian and Comparative Context

Autorice u radu istražuju kazneno djelo izborne prijevare kao jedno od kaznenih djela protiv biračkog prava Kaznenog zakona iz 2011. godine. Nakon kratke usporedbe s bićem djela iz ranijeg zakona, kriminološka analiza upućuje na izrazito rijetku incidenciju ovog djela u odnosu na opću incidenciju kriminala u Republici Hrvatskoj i to kako u pogledu prijava, tako i u odnosu na optužbe i osude punoljetnih počinitelja. Stoga se ističe problem tamne brojke te upućuje na alternativne metode procjene rasprostranjenosti i incidencije izborne prijevare. Razmatranje pravomoćne presude Općinskog suda u Splitu iz 2010. godine otkriva fenomenologiju i naznake etiologije djela. U istraživanju bića djela s naglaskom na počinitelja, pojam izbora i radnje počinjenja djela utvrđuje se izborna prijevara kao delictum communium te kazneno djelo krivotvorenja lišeno svojstva dovođenja u zabludu ili održavanja u zabludi lažnim prikazivanjem ili prikrivanjem činjenica, imanentnog prijevari. Radi otklanjanja utvrđenih nedostataka i neminovne promjene u postupku glasovanja u pravcu elektroničkog glasovanja, autorice predlažu izmjene inkriminacije de lege ferenda.The authors of the paper analyse the offense of electoral fraud as one of the criminal offenses against electoral rights in the Criminal Code of 2011. After a brief comparison to the offence as regulated in the previous Criminal Code, a criminological analysis indicates extremely low incidence in relation to the general incidence of crime in the Republic of Croatia, both in terms of reported perpetrators, as well as in relation to the prosecution and conviction of adult perpetrators. Therefore, the authors accentuate the problem of the dark figure and suggest alternative methods of estimating the prevalence and incidence of electoral fraud. The evaluation of a final judgment before the Municipal Court in Split from 2010 reveals the phenomenology and clues of etiology of the offence. As a result of the research into the offense with a focus on the perpetrators, the concept of elections and acts of committing, electoral fraud is defined as a delictum communium and a criminal offense of counterfeiting, deprived of misleading or keeping in mistaken belief by misrepresentation or concealment of facts, which is inherent to fraud. Aimed at eliminating the identified deficiencies and promoting inevitable changes in the voting procedure in the direction of electronic voting, the authors propose changes to the incrimination de lege ferenda