Voting in Croatia’s parliamentary election kicks off

ZAGREB, 17 April (Hina) – Over 6,500 polling stations throughout Croatia opened at 7 am Wednesday for the election of the 11th national legislature, with slightly more than 3.73 million voters eligible to choose a total of 151 parliamentarians.

The Croatian Sabor consists of 151 deputies, 140 of whom are elected in ten constituencies, eight are elected by members of ethnic minorities in Constituency 12 (three ethnic Serb deputies plus five representing other minorities) and three are elected by voters without residence in Croatia in Constituency 11, which practically covers the entire world.

The election of MPs in Constituency 11 started on Monday evening in Australia Croatian time, and on Tuesday morning in numerous European countries. Voting abroad takes place over two days, on Tuesday and Wednesday at 100 polling stations in 41 countries, according to the State Electoral Commission (DIP).

Electioneering is banned on Tuesday and Wednesday until 7 pm when the polling stations close due to the election silence.

The State Electoral Commission will announce data regarding the turnout to the polls on Wednesday at noon and 5 pm.

The first results will be announced on Wednesday at 9 pm and will be updated during the night, and DIP expects the returns from three quarters of polling stations by midnight.

MPs elected by direct, secret vote in proportional representation model

Members of the Croatian Parliament are elected by direct, secret vote. Their term lasts for four years. MPs are elected by proportional representation and preferential voting.

Regular elections for the representatives of the Croatian Parliament are held every four years. Croatian citizens aged 18 years have the right to vote, and the number of eligible voters has fallen by 127,000 compared to the electoral rolls four years ago.

Preferential voting in proportional representation

Deputies are elected according to proportional representation with the possibility of preferential voting. Voters can circle the name of the candidate whom they prefer to all the other candidates on a slate. Preferential votes count only if a candidate on a slate wins at least 10% of the votes won by their slate.

The standard d’Hondt formula is applied to the vote except for the twelfth constituency in which national minority representatives are elected, with a five-percent election threshold in each constituency.

The DIP received fewer candidate lists for the 17 April parliamentary election than for the 5 July 2020 elections.

From 16 March through 29 March, 165 valid lists were submitted, 25 fewer than in 2020, when nearly 2,700 candidates competed for 151 parliamentary seats.

The highest number of lists, 18 each, was submitted in Constituencies 1 and 9, while the lowest, number only eight, was submitted in Constituency 11, where Croatian citizens residing outside Croatia vote.

In those 11 electoral units, there are 15 candidates competing per seat.

Nearly 4 million ballot sheets

Printing of almost four million ballot sheets for the parliamentary elections took place in the Narodne Novine (Official Gazette) printing office.

About 3,550,000 ballot sheets are for the 1st to the 11th constituencies, and about 430,000 for the 12th constituency, a member and spokesman of the State Election Commission (DIP) Slaven Hojski has told Hina.

DIP has called on employers to organise work on parliamentary election day, Wednesday, 17 April, so that those working that day can go to their polling station and exercise their right to vote.

The law says that election day is a non-working day.

In mid-March, President Zoran Milanović decided to call the parliamentary election for 17 April.

Parliamentary elections were held on a weekday only once before and that was in 2000 when the polls for the Sabor were held on 3 January, a Monday.

Hojski admitted that in technical and logistical terms, it is easier to organise the voting process on a Sunday, given that polling stations are located in schools, kindergartens and similar institutions which are not open on Saturdays and Sundays.

“We will do our best to organise the election process on 17 April,” Hojski  said then.

About, 5,400 observers are being engaged to monitor the voting process.