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1st LD Writethru: Croatians voting in Parliamentary elections, PM calls on citizens to fulfill obligation

Xinhua, November 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Croatian Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zoran Milanovic, on Sunday called on citizens to vote in the country's 8th parliamentary elections to fulfill their obligation after casting his ballot in downtown Zagreb.

He said these are the most important elections in the last four years, he hoped a good turnout.

Tomislav Karamarko, the president of the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) expressed his optimistic to the election results.

"I believe it will be a big turnout," he said after cast his ballot, adding he was convinced that the elections would be a holiday of democracy.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic called on all eligible voters to join in the elections to "choose their destiny for the next four years".

With the opening of 6,574 polls station across the country at 7:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT), around 3.8 million eligible voters to elect a 151-member new parliament, of which 140 in the 10 constituencies in the country, eight from national minorities, and three from Croatian citizens residing abroad.

There are more than 2,300 candidates from 166 lists, mostly party lists, are competing for voters' affection.

Poll stations will be closed at 19:00 local time (1800 GMT) and the turnout will publish twice, at noon and in 17:00 local time (1600 GMT).

The State Election Commission (DIP) will publish the preliminary elections results at about 22:00 local time (2100 GMT).

According to pre-election surveys, the two largest coalitions "Croatia Is Growing", led by the center-left SDP, and "Patriotic Coalition", led by opposition 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.

The surveys suggested that the newly founded party MOST could get 12, IDS-PSL coalition and Milan Bandic 365 party three seats each.

On the 8th elections after Croatian independence, voters can exercise something new, they have preferential vote, which gives them the option of choosing the candidate by name. Endit