ZAGREB, October 19, 2018 – The thistimeimvoting.eu non-political campaign aimed at motivating European Union citizens to vote in the May 2019 European elections was presented at Europe House in Zagreb on Friday.
After India’s, these are the biggest democratic elections, with half a billion people eligible to vote, said the European Commission’s representative in Croatia, Branko Baričević.
In the last European elections, in 2014, the turnout in Croatia was 25%, the same as in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.
The situation was even worse among young voters, with 87% not going to the polls, said Violeta Simeonova Staničić, head of the European Parliament’s Croatian office.
Despite the poor motivation and political disinterest, she said the latest Eurobarometer survey showed that 68% of citizens in the EU and 66% in Croatia considered EU membership as useful, which was the best result since 1983.
“Elections are the biggest individual drive in a country when we talk about mobilisation. By failing to vote, no one will use your ballot, but someone will decide for you,” said Janja Horvat Drobnjak of the State Election Commission.
According to current data, 28% of Croatia’s youth have said they will not vote in next year’s European elections.
About 72,000 EU citizens have registered with the thistimeimvoting.eu website, including 2,000 from Croatia. By registering, they can sign up for the European topics that interest them as well as mobilise their group of people with whom they will encourage other citizens to vote in the 23-26 May 2019 polls.
