Croatia awaits local election winners
Polling stations across Croatia closed after Croatians voted for county prefects and assemblies as well as city mayors and city councils for the next four years.
The State Electoral Commission (DIP) will publish updates every 15 minutes, and a clearer picture of the main winners and losers is anticipated by around 11pm, CE Report quotes HINA.
Voter turnout on Sunday was lower than in the last local elections four years ago.
By 4:30pm, turnout stood at 33.06%, approximately 2.5 percentage points lower than in 2021. However, as polling stations remained open until 7pm, final turnout figures may improve slightly.
The end of voting also marked the conclusion of a two-day election silence period. According to DIP, most breaches of the election blackout occurred on social media, where promotional content was still being posted on some personal and political profiles.
It is now up to the relevant electoral commissions to report these breaches. Fines for violating electoral silence range from €398 for individuals to over €66,000 for legal entities, and are issued by misdemeanour courts.
Approximately 3.5 million Croatian citizens were eligible to vote in these elections, choosing members of local councils and assemblies, as well as mayors, municipal leaders, county prefects, and their deputies across 576 local government units.
In seven cities and 112 municipalities, the names of mayors and municipal heads are already known, as they were the only candidates. The compositions of 35 municipal councils are also known in advance, as only one list was submitted in each case.
