The first round of local elections is taking place today.
More than 6,600 polling stations were opened today at 07:00, with voters having until 19:00 to elect town and municipal mayors, county prefects, and members of municipal and town councils and county assemblies.
County election commissions have confirmed that all polls have been opened and that there are no reports of possible problems, said Vice Chairman of the State Election Commission Vesna Fabijančić Križanić.
About 3.72 million voters will choose between 47,000 candidates. There are about 73,000 members of polling and electoral commissions, as well as more than 12,000 election observers. About 14 million ballots have been distributed to polling stations, and each voter will receive at least four ballots, to elect mayor, prefect, council and assembly members.
Voters in Zagreb will elect the mayor and members of the city assembly, as well as members of local city districts and neighbourhoods.
If no candidate for mayor or prefect receives a majority of votes today, the second round of voting with the two candidates with the most votes will take place in two weeks’ time.
According to the State Election Commission, almost 550,000 voters or nearly 16 percent voted by 11:30. The turnout is higher than for the last local elections four years ago. About 72,000 more voters went to the polls, although four years ago the turnout was reported as of 11:00. Then, 13.5 percent or 478,000 voters voted in the morning.
The highest turnout is reported from Lika-Senj County (21.9 percent), and the lowest from Požega-Slavonia County (11.9 percent). Among individual towns, Gospić is leading with the turnout of 24.7 percent, while Velika Gorica is last with 13.2 percent. In Zagreb, the turnout is 15.4 percent, in Split 16.3 percent, in Rijeka 13.5 percent, and in Osijek 14.9 percent.
President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović voted on Sunday at a polling station in Zagreb and called on Croatian citizens to come out to the polls in as large numbers as possible. “Direct elections of representatives in local government units are very important. I personally advocate for the decentralisation of Croatia and the transfer of powers to local government units and, of course, for the transfer of financial resources, which certainly strengthens the role of representatives in town and municipal councils,” said Grabar Kitarović.
Prime Minister and HDZ President Andrej Plenković voted on Sunday morning and stated that he wanted the turnout to be as high as possible. “These elections are important. They are about our municipalities, towns, counties, about representative bodies that decide on many of the concrete issues important for creating better living conditions throughout Croatia,” said Plenković.
SDP president and leader of the opposition Davor Bernardić also voted on Sunday morning. “I expect that citizens will exercise their democratic right. Unfortunately, the elections are the only opportunity in Croatia when all citizens, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, regardless of their social influence, have the same power. I call on them to use that power and go to the polls,” said Bernardić.
Today’s local elections are also important for their possible effect on the national-level politics.
The first exit polls for the largest towns will be published at 7:00, and the first actual results are expected at around 21:00.
