Voting for Croatian parliament to be repeated at 7 polling stations: electoral commission

The Croatian State Electoral Commission (DIP) announced on Monday that ballots for Sunday's parliamentary elections would have to be recast at seven polling stations Nov. 15 because of ballot stuffing.

Branko Hrvatin, the chairman of DIP, said the seven polling stations, located in the southern coastal cities of Sibenik and Zadar, along with other constituencies, would affect a total of 2,903 registered voters.

After the repeated voting, the final results for the eighth parliament would be published, he added.

With 99.9 percent of ballots counted, the results showed that none of the parties or coalitions had won the 76 seats necessary to secure a majority government.

The "Patriotic Coalition," led by the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), was the relative winner with 59 seats and its main rival "Croatia Is Growing," led by ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP), won 56 seats. The surprise winner was an alliance of independent candidates, MOST, or the Bridge, which won 19 seats, becoming the third biggest party in the parliament.

The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the former partner of SDP but running on its own ticket in this election, took three seats, while other smaller parties won one or two seats each.

Around 61.12 percent of the country's 3.8 million eligible voters cast their ballots in Sunday's election, DIP said.

More than 2,300 candidates from 166 lists are competing for the 151-seat parliament, of which 140 are from 10 constituencies, eight from national minorities, and three from Croatian citizens residing abroad. Endit