Croatia elects local government for the next four years today

(Patria) - Croatia elects local representative and executive authorities for the next four years today, with the political public particularly keenly awaiting the election results in three major cities: Zagreb, Rijeka and Split.

Along with the names of their mayors, the compositions of the councils and assemblies of these cities, for which 28 lists are competing, are also eagerly awaited. Twelve lists are competing for 49 seats in the Zagreb City Assembly, while for the city councils of Rijeka and Split, each with 31 councilors, seven and nine lists are running, respectively.

There are seven candidates for mayor of Zagreb, and six each for Rijeka and Split. Election results are also awaited with interest from Zadar, Pula, Varaždin, Dubrovnik, as well as Gospić, Sinj, Metković, and Samobor.

Sunday will also show which parties govern Croatia's counties, i.e., whether the balance of power has changed compared to 2021 and in which counties.

Just over 3.5 million voters have the right to elect the local government, for which 31,082 candidates are competing.

In Sunday's elections, 297 voters who are citizens of other EU member states and have residence or temporary stay in Croatia will also be able to elect local representative authorities.

They will be able to exercise their right at 6,600 polling stations, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., during which a two-day election silence will also be in effect.

The local government, which is being elected in a total of 576 units, has been 'elected' in some units even before election Sunday. In seven cities and 112 municipalities, the names of mayors and municipal heads are known because they were the only candidates. The compositions of 35 municipal councils, for which only one list was also submitted, are also known.

Due to the number of units, candidates, and lists, local elections are technically more demanding to conduct than other elections. This is confirmed by the data on the number of ballots, with nearly 13 million printed in total, which is three and a half times more than in the first round of presidential elections, when 3.6 million were printed.

What interest citizens have shown in the elections will be seen at noon and at 5 p.m., when the State Election Commission will publish turnout data up to 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

The State Election Commission will begin publishing the first election results at 9 p.m., updating them every 15 minutes.