After two weeks of waiting, the President’s decision is finally published in the Official Gazette.
The decision made by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on calling early parliamentary elections for 11 September, which was announced two weeks ago, was finally published in the Saturday’s edition of the Official Gazette, which means that official electoral process will start on midnight, reports Index.hr on July 30, 2016.
Starting from Sunday, parties, independent lists and candidates can begin submitting to the State Election Commission their official lists of candidates for the elections to be held on Sunday, 11 September. They have to submit their lists within two weeks, with the final deadline being midnight on 13 August, after which the State Electoral Commission has 48 hours to check whether the lists are valid.
After the lists are published, the official election campaign will begin, and it will end two days before the elections. One day before the elections, on Saturday, 10 September, all election campaigning must cease.
Member of the new Parliament will be elected on Sunday, 11 September, in Croatia, while the elections in Croatian diplomatic and consular missions abroad will take place on two days, on Saturday and Sunday, 10 and 11 September.
These will be the ninth parliamentary elections since Croatia introduced multiparty democracy. In total, 151 MPs will be elected, 140 of them in the ten constituencies in Croatia, three will be elected by Croatian citizens residing outside Croatia, and eight MPs will be elected as representatives of national minorities.
Among the major parties, HDZ will go to the polls alone, however, it will cooperate in certain constituencies with some of the smaller parties. SDP has formed the People’s Coalition, which also includes HNS, HSS and HSU. MOST will go to the polls without any other partners. One of the new options for voters is a coalition between the Franak Association, Živi Zid and the Let’s Change Croatia party, which was founded by three former MPs from MOST. The Reformist Party and the Bandić Milan 365 party will also go to the polls as part of a coalition. On the left side of political spectrum, there will be a coalition of the Labour Party and ORaH, while right wing coalition will probably be formed by several of the “parties of rights”, led by HSP AS, which is HDZ’s former coalition partner.
