Parliamentary elections kick off in Croatia

ZAGREB -- Parliamentary elections in Croatia kicked off on Wednesday morning, with 2,302 candidates from 59 political parties and independent candidates competing for 151 seats in the parliament.

According to the State Election Commission, over 3.73 million registered voters, both locally and overseas, are registered in Croatia this year.

The first results are expected to be announced on Wednesday evening.

The top two parties are the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, headed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and the alliance of parties led by the center-left Croatian Social Democratic Party.

However, the latest polls show that no party will likely win more than half of the seats, making a multi-party coalition inevitable.

The Croatian Parliament has a unicameral system with 151 seats and a four-year term. The last parliament began in July 2020 and was dissolved on March 14.