ZAGREB, May 23, 2019 – The leadership of Croats in Serbia on Thursday called on local Croats who have dual citizenship to go to the polls and vote for Croatian candidates in the 26 May elections for the European Parliament election.
Polling stations for the election will be set up in Croatia’s diplomatic missions in Belgrade and in Subotica.
The leader of the Democratic Alliance of the Vojvodina Croats (DSHV) Tomislav Žigmanov said in a public statement calling on eligible voters to go to the polls, that DSHV is a Democratic Christian party and that it supports the options that advocate such views.
“The Croats in Serbia can exert influence on the composition of the new European Parliament by voting in the election! Let us go to the polls on 26 May, Sunday,” Žigmanov’s statement reads.
The DSHV encourages all members of the Croat community to exercise their right and go to the polls to elect members of the EP who will advocate the same political values and work on the implementation of EU projects.
Žigmanov recalled that during the last EP election, the turnout by the Croat community in Serbia was modest.
In that context he explained that eligible voters can vote only in person at polling stations at two places in Belgrade and Subotica.
This considerably affects the situation of voters who live in parts of Serbia and Vojvodina that are far away from the above mentioned two cities.
Therefore, Žigmanov suggests that postal voting should be introduced for eligible Croat voters in Serbia and Vojvodina, just as Hungary enabled their voters which was why the turnout was that high in the Hungarian ethnic community.
The leader of the Croatian National Council in Serbia, Jasna Vojnić, said that the EP election has an impact on the Croat people in Serbia.
By casting your ballots in the EP election, you can, in a way, impact the improvement of the status of members of our community, she said.
An estimated 35,000 ethnic Croats in Vojvodina and Serbia are eligible to vote in the EP election.
More news about European elections can be found in the Politics section.
