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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ZAGREB, 23 July 2021 - In the first half of 2021, the three political parties with the largest donations are the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which received HRK 1.9 million, the Labour and Solidarity Party of the late Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić with 1.7 million, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 1.1. million.

According to the data provided by the State Electoral Commission (DIP) on its website, there were 250 donors who financially supported the ruling HDZ in the first half of 2021.

In terms of the amount of donations, the Križevci-based construction company Radnik was the top donor for the HDZ with HRK 150,000 donated. The Šibenik-based Impol-TLM contributed HRK 128,500 and the Širjan company, specialised in growing cereals, provided HRK 70,000.

The top two donors of the Labour and Solidarity Party were the Ivanić Grad-based construction company RAUD and the Gornji Vugrovec-based Agrina PAD specialised in landscaping services.

The top donors of the SDP party were Crodux Plin and the Crodix Derivati dva, each contributing HRK 200,000 (the maximum amount allowable as a donation to a company).

The Zagreb Is Ours party received HRK 70,000 in donations, and its member Urša Raukar-Gamulin, who has recently attracted the media limelight after her declaration of assets showed her to be one of the richest MPs, and her husband donated HRK 5,000 each.

The We Can party received HRK 52,000 in donations and one of the donors, Rajko Bajakić, donated HRK 5,000 three times, or 15,000 in total. Bajakić has attracted the attention of the media after he was appointed by the new Mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, as a member of the supervisory  board of the Zagrebački Holding multi-utility conglomerate.

(€1 = HRK 7.522815)

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ZAGREB, 25 May, 2021 - After the repeat of local polls in seven municipalities and cities last Sunday, the State Electoral Commission (DIP) on Tuesday said that the second round of the election would be held for 87 municipal mayors, 57 city mayors including the mayor of the capital city of Zagreb and 14 county prefects on 30 May.

There are total of of 432 cities and municipalities where the second round of the elections is to be held or at 5,497 polling stations on Sunday, 30 May.

DIP recalls that the local elections will be repeated at eight polling stations in the Municipality of Kneževi Vinogradi as well as at one polling station in the election for city councillors in the Varaždin City Assembly on 30 May.

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ZAGREB, 13 May, 2021 - The State Election Commission (DIP) on Thursday called on all participants in the 16 May local election, physical and legal persons as well as media outlets, to observe electoral silence that starts at midnight on Saturday and ends on Sunday at 7 pm, when polling stations will be closed.

Violations of the electioneering ban are reported to municipal, town and county electoral commissions and the City of Zagreb Election Commission and they are subject to fines ranging from HRK 3,000 for physical persons to HRK 500,000 for legal persons, including political parties.

Candidates who violate the electioneering ban may be fined HRK 10,000 to 30,000.

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ZAGREB, 5 May, 2021 - The Official Gazette's printing office in Zagreb started printing 13.7 million ballot slips for the coming local election on May 16 and this project costs about HRK 4.5 million.

There are 1,232 different voting slips that need to be printed for the election of county prefects, mayors, county and city assemblies.

In addition to ballot slips, forms to take minutes and procedures by election committees also need to be prepared including ballot boxes and cardboard screens for ballot booths.

The State Electoral Commission (DIP) is expected to release instructions on Friday regarding epidemiological measures during the election.

Anti-epidemic rules could be more stringent in comparison to last year's parliamentary election and masks will probably be compulsory at polling stations as will keeping a distance of at least 2 metres.

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ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - There are nearly 39,000 candidates running in the local elections which Croatia will hold on 16 May, and their average age is 45, according to statistics released by the State Electoral Commission (DIP).

The two youngest candidates are a man and a woman, who both turned 18 on 29 March this year.

The youngest female candidate is on the slate of a four-party coalition led by the HSS Stjepan Radić party, and the youngest male candidate is on the slate of the HSP party.

The oldest female candidate, 91, is on the slate of the Zagorska Stranka za Zagreb party in the City of Zagreb.

The oldest male candidate, 92, is on the slate of a group of voters led by Dražen Vranić.

Many slates are gender-imbalanced

The DIP has given an instruction that the representation of any gender should not be below 40%. However, the instruction has not been followed in some cases and there are several slates consisting only of male candidates.

Such slates are valid, however, those who submit them can be fined up to 20,000 kuna.

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ZAGREB, 30 April, 2021 - More than 38,000 candidates have submitted their nominations for executive and representative positions in the 16 May local elections, State Electoral Commission (DIP) president Đuro Sessa told a press conference on Friday.

Sessa reported on the number of submitted slates and nominations as the filing deadline expired at midnight.

There are 7,104 candidates on the slates for county assemblies, including the City of Zagreb, which has the status of a county, and 28,867 candidates on the slates for city and municipal councils.

A total of 225 people are running for county prefects and their deputies, including the candidates for Zagreb mayor and deputy mayor, and 1,901 candidates are in the race for municipal heads and mayors, including their deputies.

Eleven candidates running for mayors of Split and Rijeka

In Split and Rijeka there are 11 mayoral candidates, ten candidates are running for Zagreb mayor and seven for Osijek mayor.

After local electoral commissions announce valid nominations, electioneering will officially start in counties, cities and municipalities, and will last until midnight on 14 May, when a two-day electioneering ban starts.

The Saturday before the elections and the election Sunday are days of election silence, and the same rule will apply in the second round of the vote, to be held on 30 May.

There will be 6,572 polling stations, and each polling committee will have ten members, Sessa said.

Twenty-five tents to be set up for elections in earthquake-struck Banovina

The conduct of local elections has also been ensured in the earthquake-hit area.

Twenty-five tents will be set up the day before the elections in places where it is not possible to have polling stations inside buildings, said Sessa, adding that there will be eight tents in Glina, seven in Petrinja, four in Sisak, and three each in Donji Kukuruzari and Majur.

He called on voters to adhere to epidemiological measures.

He also confirmed that voters from the Banovina region who had moved away after the earthquake would not be able to cast their vote in another location, adding that he understands their problem but that it is not legally possible to conduct the elections differently.

There will be 14 million ballots in the elections and the organisation would be too difficult logistically, he said.

He recalled that all participants would have to enter their reports on advertising spending in a special IT system, which is a novelty in these elections. They will have to do that seven days before the elections and 30 days after them, Sessa said, noting that all data on finances will be released in one place, DIP's website.

Infected persons and those in self-isolation to vote under same conditions as in July

Persons in self-isolation and those infected with coronavirus will vote in the same way they did in July in the parliamentary elections. Polling committee members will come to their homes, and those infected will be able to cast their vote with the help of another person to avoid contact between polling committee members and an infected person, the DIP president said.

DIP spokesman Slaven Hojski said the election results would be released on election day starting from 9 p.m. and would be updated every 15 minutes.

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ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - The State Election Commission (DIP) on Monday reminded political parties and independent slates to respect the principle of gender equality and balanced representation of men and women on lists of candidates for members of representative bodies of municipalities, towns and counties in May's local elections.

In doing so, they must take care that the representation of one sex on a list is not below 40%, DIP said.

It recalled that respect for the principle of balanced representation of men and women on electoral slates did not affect the validity of those slates and that they would not be rejected if they failed to have a sufficient number of female or male candidates, but that their proposers would be fined.

Under the Gender Equality Act, fines range from HRK 40,000 for a political party or independent slate participating in elections for city councils and county assemblies to HRK 20,000 for elections for municipal councils.

Fewer councillors to be elected in May

The number of deputies in local councils and assemblies to be elected in the May 16 election depends on the number of those local government units' inhabitants and ranges from 7 for municipalities that have up to 1,000 residents, to 47, which is how many deputies will be elected to the Zagreb City Assembly and the assemblies of counties with more than 300,000 residents.

The number of local deputies to be elected in the May 16 election is smaller than four years ago.

In line with changes to the law on local elections, municipalities with up to 1,000 residents elect seven councillors, while under the old law seven councillors were elected by municipalities with up to 500 inhabitants and municipalities with up to 1,000 inhabitants elected nine deputies.

Counties with more than 300,000 residents and the City of Zagreb will each elect to their assemblies 47 councillors and previously they elected 51 deputies.

It is estimated that under the new rules, the number of members of local representative bodies will be around 10% smaller.

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ZAGREB, 16 March, 2021 - The State Electoral Commission (DIP) has advised companies and citizens who intend to make a donation to participants running in the May local election, to respect the law and take note of the maximum allowable amount that may be donated.

All physical and legal persons intending to donate money, products or services are obliged to register all the relevant information and should be issued with a receipt by the recipient party or independent slate.

Donors must not have any debts to the state or local authorities.

If donations are made in products, then the value of these must be identified.

The maximum amount of a donation for physical entities is HRK 30,000 and for legal entities HRK 200,000. Donations can be made once or in several instalments and must be pad into a separate electioneering account.

Contracts for donations greater than HRK 5,000

Donations of HRK 5,000 or more require a contract to be concluded between the donor and recipient (party or independent slate).

DIP has published guidelines regarding the financing of electioneering which are available at its website.

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ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - New Left was late in submitting its financial statement for 2020 due to errors made by persons this parliamentary party authorised to enter the data in the report, the State Election Commission (DIP) said on Wednesday.

DIP thus dismissed the explanation provided by the party about the reasons for its failure to provide the commission with the financial statement on time. On Tuesday afternoon, the New Left party confirmed that it was late in submitting its 2020 financial statement and explained that they missed the deadline due to shortcomings in the electronic system for data entry.

The New Left, which has one lawmaker, was the only parliamentary party to fail to submit its financial statement within the deadline.

The DIP commission recalls that more than 1,300 parties and independent lawmakers and councillors, subject to regular supervision, managed to submit their financial statement by that very same IT system in a timely fashion.

So the problems arose from the mistakes made by the persons authorised by the party to enter the data and not due to any glitches in the IT system, DIP said. 

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