ZAGREB, 16 May 2021 - According to the latest exit polls, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) slate won 42.49% of the vote in Osijek in Sunday's local election, that is 15 seats in the 31-seat council of that biggest eastern Croatian city.

The coalition of the Homeland Movement (DP) and the Bridge party follows with 18.76% of the vote and six seats in the council.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) ranked third with 15.40% of the vote, which means it could have five seats in the local legislature.

The Snaga SiB party won 6.72% of the vote, thus securing two seats. The We Can party can also count on two councilors, winning 6.04% of the vote.

The HNS, HSS and Reformists coalition would have one seat after this coalition won 5.24% of the vote, according to the exit polls.

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ZAGREB, 16 May 2021 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)  won eight seats or 23.53% of votes in Sunday's local elections for the 31-seat Split City Council, while the Centre party also won eight seats, trailing behind on 22.23%, exit polls showed.

The Croatian Civic Party received 13.39% (5 seats), followed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on 8.86% (3 seats), the Green-Left Coalition on 8.84% (3 seats), Bridge on 8.12% (3 seats), and the independent list of Tomislav Mamić on 5.05% (1 seat). 

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ZAGREB, 16 May 2021 - New Left president Ivana Kekin said on Sunday that the first exit polls in Zagreb, according to which Tomislav Tomašević (We Can!, Zagreb Is Ours!) has won 48.6% of the vote for mayor, showed that people had realised it was time for a change.

"The result is maybe even better than all the pre-election polls showed. We are very glad that citizens have obviously realised it's time for a change and that they have realised who can deliver that change," Kekin told Hina.

According to the first exit polls in Zagreb, Tomašević has won 48.6% of the vote for mayor and the coalition of We Can!, Zagreb Is Ours!, New Left and Orah 45.96% for the City Assembly.

Asked if she expected Tomašević to win in the 30 May mayoral runoff, Kekin said it was difficult to say given that these were exit poll results. "The numbers can go a little up or a little down now. It would be great if they went up a little, so that we can save money and time and get to work immediately on Monday."

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ZAGREB, 16 May, 2021 - Zagreb and Ljubljana are here to help their Western Balkan friends join the European Union because that is in everyone's interest, just as it is presumably in Slovenia's interest that Croatia enters the Schengen zone, Croatian President Zoran Milanović said in the Slovenian lakeside resort of Bled on Sunday.

Milanović and his Slovenian host Borut Pahor held a working meeting ahead of the annual Brdo-Brijuni Process summit on Monday. The two presidents are the co-chairs of this initiative.

Over the last ten years, the Brdo-Brijuni Process has shown that "it makes perfect sense," Milanović told the press before meeting Pahor, according to a press release from the Croatian president's office.

"We are here to encourage and help our friends and neighbours from the Western Balkans, basically the countries of the former Yugoslavia plus Albania, to join the European Union as soon and as simply as possible because that is in everyone's interest," the Croatian president said.

Milanović said he presumed it was also in Slovenia's interest that Croatia should join the Schengen zone as soon as possible.

"All this is part of a broader story in which we will do all we can, notably our governments, but we too, so that our neighbours become, as soon as possible, part of the community which we belong to," Milanović said. "After all, Europe is one and should be one because whenever it was divided in the past it was not good," he added.

Milanović called for cooperation despite differences.

"We do not have the same views on all issues, but I believe that our views are compatible and can produce a result," the Croatian president said. He said he was optimistic and expected a good meeting on Monday.

The Brdo-Brijuni Process was launched by Croatia and Slovenia in 2013 to address open issues through regional cooperation, stabilise the situation in southeast Europe and create conditions for EU enlargement. 

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ZAGREB, 16 May, 2021 - The GONG election-monitoring NGO said that voting in Sunday's local elections by noon was relatively peaceful but with numerous complaints from citizens.

The complaints referred to violations of election silence, complaints regarding the work of electoral committees, and there were also inquiries about some polling stations that had been relocated and about the possibility of voting for people in self-isolation or people who are ill, GONG said.

The NGO said that in the first couple of hours after the opening of polling stations it received a dozen complaints about electoral committees asking voters if they wanted to vote only for mayoral candidates or for other slates as well.

"GONG informed local election commissions about this and they told us that this was not an instruction or an intentional act of discouraging voters. They noted that they had been informed of such cases and that they warned electoral committees that they should offer all voters all ballots," GONG said.

The NGO also asked the State Election Commission (DIP) to investigate text messages and messages on social networks in which the transport of voters from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia's coastal town of Makarska is being arranged, and which also mention providing supporters of one political party with transport and lunch.

GONG also said that other complaints referred mostly to violations of election silence, primarily on social networks, and that it received a complaint from a political party saying that fake text messages were being sent to voters on its behalf. The case was reported to DIP.

DIP spokesman: Normal election day

DIP spokesman Slaven Hojski said that election day was normal with regard to complaints and reports of irregularities.

Most of the complaints refer to posts on social networks and violations of election silence, he said.

He noted that tension was running high among political parties which accused one another of doing something to compromise the other side.

The DIP spokesman also said that several text messages were blocked via the HAKOM regulator.

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ZAGREB, 16 May, 2021 - A total of 15.47% of Croatians went to the polls in Sunday's local elections by noon, which is almost the same turnout as in the 2017 local election, when 15.98% of voters had voted by noon, the State Election Commission said.

The commission will release new information on the turnout at 5 pm.

The highest turnouts were reported in Lika-Senj County (21%), Dubrovnik-Neretva County (19%) and Varaždin County (17.4%).

Sisak-Moslavina County, struck by a strong earthquake on 29 December, also had a rather good turnout, of 16.7%.

Of the four big cities, the highest turnout was reported in Zagreb (15.4%), followed by Split (14.4%), Osijek (13%) and Rijeka (12.4%).

A total of 3.660 million voters have the right to vote in elections for local self-government units and they can do so at 6,572 polling stations.

Voters will decide about the make-up of 425 municipal and 127 city councils, 20 county assemblies and the Zagreb City Assembly. They will also elect mayors and county heads, some 70 deputy mayors and county heads from the ranks of ethnic minorities and about a dozen deputy officials from the ranks of the Croat people in the municipalities where Croats are in the minority.

Polling stations are open from 7 am to 7 pm, until when election silence is in force.

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ZAGREB, 16 May 2021 - Polling stations were opened in Croatia on Sunday morning for local elections at which 3.660 million voters will be able to cast their ballots for local government bodies, mayors and county heads. 

A total of 6,572 polling stations will be open from 7 am to 7 pm, and their closing will mark the end of two-day election silence.

Nearly 39,000 candidates are running in the elections and their average age is 45, according to statistics released by the State Election Commission (DIP).

All Croatian citizens over the age of 18, including EU citizens, who have residency in local and regional government units where the elections are taking place, have the right to vote.

Voters will be able to vote only in their place of residence, and not elsewhere in Croatia or abroad.

Voters will decide about the make-up of 425 municipal and 127 city councils, 20 county assemblies and the Zagreb City Assembly. They will also elect mayors and county heads, some 70 deputy mayors and county heads from the ranks of ethnic minorities and about a dozen deputy officials from the ranks of the Croat people in the municipalities where Croats are in the minority.

In Sunday's elections, fewer deputy mayors and members of representative bodies will be elected than in 2017. The new Zagreb City Assembly will thus have 47 instead of 51 members.

The voting process has been organised in line with anti-epidemic measures.

The State Election Commission will publish information on the turnout twice, at noon and at 5 pm, and as of 9 pm it will be publishing preliminary elections results.

The elections will be overseen by more than 10,500 monitors.

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ZAGREB, 14 May, 2021 - President and Armed Forces Supreme Commander Zoran Milanović said on Friday that Croatian interests would always be taken into account when sending Croatian troops into international missions.

The Croatian army is the modern army of a democratic state, a state of equal citizens, which participates in international missions, Milanović said in Petrinja at a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the 2nd Guard Brigade Gromovi.

"You too will participate in international missions. In deciding where, when and in what composition we will go, we will take account of first and foremost protecting Croatian interests," he said.

Croatian troops will go into those international missions where they can learn, work on themselves and build their careers, he added, "where we won't meddle too much in others' conflicts and others' quarrels."

To the soldiers sworn in at Petrinja today, Milanović said that as soldiers and professionals they should work on their physical fitness, knowledge and education every day.

"We see how wars are waged today, how the world is stirring and what changes are taking place in front of us. This is not an ordinary time and we must always be adapted to this time, taking account of knowing clearly what our interests are, how far we can go, what we can't pass over and how much we can set aside for that."

In that sense, Milanović said, the Croatian army must be properly equipped.

Defence Minister Mario Banožić said 203 Gromovi members were killed in the Homeland War's operations Storm, Flash, Maslenica, Una and others, while five were unaccounted for and 1,200 were wounded.

Despite that, nothing could stop their courage and heart, he added, announcing the modernisation and development of the military.

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ZAGREB, 14 May, 2021 - President and Armed Forces Supreme Commander Zoran Milanović said on Friday he was involved in the selection of fighter jets via the Main Staff chief, who answers to him, and via the Air Force commander.

"The prime minister was untruthful again. Not a day goes by without that man telling a lie. He says I could have but did not get involved (...) But I did, via the chief of the Main Staff, who answers to me, via the Croatian Air Force commander," Milanović told reporters in Petrinja.

"Do I have to say all the time that the prime minister is a liar? That's lying. Or the man knows nothing about the state nor about the commission whose appointment he signed," he said, adding that on that commission was the Main Staff chief, "who answers first and foremost to me. So, I have all the inside information."

Asked if a decision which fighter jets to purchase would be made by the end of the month, as announced by the defence minister, Milanović said, "I don't believe anything."

That's irresponsible, amateurish, dilettante behaviour, he added.

Asked to comment on Milanović's statement that the government was taking too long to decide on the best multi-purpose fighter jets, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that Milanović had refused to appoint his representative on the competent commission and sought to distance himself from the process. "What does he care then? Why the rush? We will decide at our own convenience."

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ZAGREB, 14 May, 2021 - The fantastic exhibition "Croatia to the world" represents the best that Croatia has contributed to the world and it would be good if it were shown in diplomatic offices abroad to help to break down stereotypes, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Friday.

He was accompanying diplomats accredited in Croatia who were visiting the exhibition at the Meštrović Pavilion. The exhibition honour 38 greats linked to Croatia whose work left a deep trace on humankind. Apostolic Nuncio Giorgio Lingua, doyen of the diplomatic corps, thanked the minister on their behalf.

"In order for the exhibition to be visible, it would be good if it were shown, for example, in Budapest, Berlin, Rome," Grlić Radman told the press.

That would help to break down the stereotypes about Croatia, which is often seen as a country of athletes, footballers, the most beautiful sea, nature and such, he said.

Today's visit was an opportunity for diplomats to get to know the many things they use every day without knowing who contributed to their creation, said Archbishop Lingua. "This is a good opportunity to see how much Croats have contributed to many fields in the world."

"The exhibition is an introduction to the unimaginable wealth of the Croatian cultural heritage," said Grlić Radman. It is dedicated to "extraordinary minds" linked to Croatia by birth, education or activity, he added.

The exhibition is dedicated to individuals whose work influenced global processes, changed the world or influenced global history, the minister said, such as inventor Nikola Tesla, presented as the man "who discovered the 20th century," or Nobel winners Lavoslav Ružička and Vladimir Prelog, or "the father of forensics" Ivan Vučetić.

Archbishop Lingua said he was pleased that today's visit was an opportunity "to see the world through Croatian eyes."

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