Croatia Elects President: Eight Candidates, 3.7 Million Voters Eligible

(Patria) - Croatia began its eighth presidential election this morning at 7 AM. Eight candidates are running for the position, and polling stations are open until 7 PM.

Besides Croatia, the President is also being elected abroad, in 38 countries, nine fewer than five years ago, with a total of 3,762,224 voters eligible to vote.

Voters will decide whether to give a new, second term to the current president, Zoran Milanović, who is supported by the SDP and its partners, or to one of his opponents.

Milanović's rivals are: Miro Bulj (Most), independent Tomislav Jonjić, Ivana Kekin (Možemo), Branka Lozo (DOMiNO), Dragan Primorac (HDZ and partners), and independent candidates Marija Selak Raspudić and Niko Tokić Kartelo.

The State Election Commission (DIP), the key body for conducting elections, calls on voters to turn out and exercise their right.

- We also call for everything to proceed peacefully, in a democratic atmosphere, and for voters to exercise their constitutional right - says DIP Vice President Vesna Fabijančić Križanić.

Voters in Croatia will be able to exercise their right at more than 6,500 regular polling stations and 123 special ones, where prisoners, ship crews, and residents of social welfare institutions will vote.

In this year's elections, as in 2019, there are no special polling stations in the Croatian Armed Forces - their members vote in their places of residence.

Polling stations are open from 7 AM to 7 PM, which is also the end of the two-day election silence during which any election promotion, publication of result estimates, as well as previous, unofficial election results, is prohibited.

Each voter will receive a ballot paper at the polling station listing the names of the eight candidates in alphabetical order. They vote by circling the ordinal number in front of the name of one candidate they see as the future Croatian president.

The Croatian president is elected by a majority electoral system, meaning they must receive a majority of the votes of all voters who cast a ballot. If this does not happen, the two candidates with the highest number of votes will proceed to a second round, which will be held in 14 days, on January 12.

DIP will announce the first election results at 8 PM, just one hour after the polling stations close, and will update them every 10 minutes.

- I believe that after 10 PM, it will be known with certainty whether there will be a second round or not - says the DIP Vice President.

DIP will announce voter turnout data today at noon and at 5 PM.

Five years ago, 15.75 percent of voters, or just over 550,000, had voted by noon, and by 5 PM, 36.36 percent, or 1,343,000.

DIP has called on employers working on election Sunday to allow their employees to go to the polls.

Sunday's elections are being monitored by about 13,400 domestic and five foreign observers, two from the USA and Lithuania each, and one from Georgia.

About 44,000 citizens are engaged in election administration.

Two hours after the opening of polling stations in Croatia, at 9 AM our time, three polling stations in Australia will close, where voting, measured by our time, has been ongoing since Saturday at 9 PM, namely in Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne.

Abroad, the last polling stations to open and close are in Chicago and Los Angeles, on Monday at 2 AM and 4 AM our time, respectively.