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Croatians start voting in early parliamentary elections

Xinhua, September 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Croatian voters started casting their ballots on Sunday in an early parliamentary election, the second of its kind in 10 months.

Nearly 7,000 polling stations across the country opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and will close at 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT). The preliminary results are expected to be released around 10:00 p.m. (2000 GMT).

A coalition government, formed by Croatia Democratic Union (HDZ) and its junior party MOST after the last election in November 2015, stepped down in June following a no-confidence vote. An early election was called.

In the current election, around 3.8 million eligible voters will elect a total of 151 members of parliament from 2,456 candidates. There are eight seats reserved for representatives of minorities and three seats for Diaspora, and other 140 members will be elected in 10 constituencies.

The pre-election opinion polls showed neither of the two biggest parties -- the HDZ and the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) -- could obtain an absolute majority. The SDP would tie with 62 seats while the HDZ would win 58 seats, according to the polls.

During electoral campaigns, both the HDZ and the SDP promised to boost investments, reduce tax, and create more jobs if they came to power after the elections. Endi