ZAGREB, 25 Aug, 2021 - The deadlines for the 3 October additional elections for representatives of ethnic minorities in councils in 16 cities and 55 municipalities and in 11 county assemblies started running on Wednesday, the State Election Commission (DIP) said today.
Slates with candidates running in those polls should be submitted to DIP until the midnight on 7 September, and can be proposed by political parties and by groups of citizens who want to be represented by independent candidates.
The State Election Commission calls for respecting gender balance which means at least 40% of candidates on a slate should be from one gender. Otherwise, the slates can be fined between 20,000-40,000 kuna.
Additional elections for minority representatives have been called for the units of local authorities in which the required representatives of the ethnic minority concerned was not achieved during the local elections in May.
Thus, a total of 74 seats designated for ethnic Serbs, 11 for ethnic Roma representatives, four for ethnic Italians and three for ethnic Hungarians and Bosniaks each as well as a seat designated for ethnic Ukrainians' representative remained vacant after the local elections.
Also, Croatians who a smaller ethnic group in the municipalities of Borovo, Trpinja and Jagodnjak will elect their representatives for those local municipal councils on 3 October.
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