Sunday's referendum in the northern Adriatic city of Pula for the Lungomare promenade failed because only 11,065 residents, or 22.71% of the population, took part in it, the city electoral commission said.

For a local referendum to be valid, 50% plus one eligible resident must vote in it, or 24,357 in Pula’s case.

Of those who took part in the referendum, 9,716 voted for, or 88.55% of the eligible electorate, while 1,256 were against (11.45%), while the remaining ballots were invalid.

In the referendum, the people of Pula were asked to say whether or not they were in favour of amending the General Development Plan to prevent the construction of a hotel and other tourist accommodation facilities in a wooded area near a seaside promenade called Lungomare.

City electoral commission president Igor Rakic said no incidents were reported during the vote.

In May, a local civil initiative gathered over 11,000 signatures for a referendum on the construction of a hotel in the city’s Valkane district, and the Ministry of Justice and Administration confirmed that the referendum proposal was backed by a sufficient number of voters and the referendum question was in line with the law.

After the results of the referendum were made public, the leader of the Valkane hotel project, Zoran Kostic, thanked the people of Pula for, he said, not believing the untruths said by those opposing the construction.

The coordinator of the civil initiative, Aleksej Orel, said they considered the referendum a success because 9,716 Pula residents voted against the construction.

The Mozemo! platform’s Pula branch said the threshold for local referenda was too high and that it would fight through initiatives in parliament for this to change.

Mayor Filip Zoricic thanked the people of Pula for the fact that the referendum day passed without incident and in line with the law, adding that he is willing to talk with the Mozemo!’s Pula branch to solve any dilemma on this project.