Croatians start voting in parliamentary elections

Croatian voters started casting their ballots on Sunday in parliamentary elections, the first after the country joined the European Union (EU) in 2013.

The polling stations across the country opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) and the preliminary results are expected to be released around 10:00 p.m. (2100 GMT).

Around 3.8 million eligible voters will elect a total of 151 members of parliament through nearly 7,000 polling stations.

The pre-election opinion polls showed the two largest coalitions led by the ruling center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) respectively could tie with around 60 seats each.

That means neither of the two coalitions could obtain an absolute majority which is required to win the elections, according to the polls.

Zoran Milanovic, president of the SDP and the incumbent prime minister, has called on voters to give him another four years to boost the Croatian economy, promising to improve business climate, boost investments and exports, as well as create more jobs and reduce tax.

Meanwhile, Tomislav Karamarko, president of the HDZ, has promised that if his coalition wins, it would implement its so-called Croatia+5 plan, which includes increasing gross domestic product (GDP) to 5 percent, lower unemployment rate by 5 percent, draw 5 billion euro (5.5 billion U.S. dollars) from EU funds, raise pensions by 5 percent, and reduce the value added tax (VAT) to 5 percent.

Under the Croatian law, eight seats in the parliament are reserved for national minorities and three for the diaspora. Endi