Polling stations closed in Croatia, catastrophic voter turnout

(Patria) - Polling stations have closed in Croatia, where in the second round of local elections, voters today decided who they want as prefects, mayors, and municipal heads.

Their doors closed at 7:00 PM at 4,980 polling stations, concluding a super election year that began in April last year with elections for the Croatian Parliament.

Slightly over two million and 883,000 voters had the right to decide on the names of 121 local officials, but by Sunday afternoon, less than a quarter had exercised this right.

By 4:30 PM, only 23.45 percent of voters had turned out to vote, according to data from the State Election Commission.

This is ten percentage points lower than in the first round, when 33.06 percent of voters had voted by the same time, and the lowest turnout since local elections have been held, i.e., since 1993.

Who won and who lost will be known around 9:30 PM.

The elections were conducted by about 50,000 people in polling committees and election commissions, and supervised by about 5,500 observers.