(MENAFN) Early on Wednesday, voters in Croatia are participating in general elections to select new members of the 151-seat national assembly. Polling stations across the country, which joined the European Union relatively recently, will remain open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, accommodating approximately 3.73 million registered voters, along with over 222,000 voters residing abroad.
Voting commenced on Tuesday for Croatians living outside the country and will continue until 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The State Election Commission has disclosed that a total of 2,302 candidates are vying for seats in parliament, with 42 percent of them being women.
The initial, unofficial election results are expected to be announced around midnight on Wednesday. The ruling center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is anticipated to secure the most seats, as per survey predictions.
Despite a Constitutional Court ruling mandating his resignation from the presidency to contest parliamentary elections, President Zoran Milanovic is standing as a candidate for the Rivers of Justice coalition. Milanovic, whose candidacy has stirred controversy, has pledged to resign if elected to parliament.
There is speculation that Milanovic's decision to hold elections during the workweek instead of Sunday aims to prevent Croatian voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there will be no election holiday, from voting for HDZ.
If Milanovic secures a parliamentary seat and subsequently resigns from the presidency, either the president of the Croatian Parliament or the vice president will assume his post.
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