Croatia decides today in the general election. At seven o’clock this morning polling stations opened across the country for 3.74 million voters to decide the 151 members of parliament. Nearly 7,000 polling stations will be open until seven o’clock tonight and the preliminary results are expected to be announced at around 10 o’clock.

This is the second time that Croatian voters have been called to parliamentary elections in the past ten months after the previous government collapsed after just five months in charge. And according to pools it could be another close result with a possible coalition predicted.

The opinion polls show the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and their four party coalition leading and predicted to win 60 of the 151 seats. Whilst the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) forecast to win slightly less, meaning a coalition looks likely.
The former government, a HDZ/MOST coalition, collapsed after internal fractions and arguments after the political direction. The coalition started their short appointment on a wave of reform and change, however after five months of infighting reforms were still on the backburner.

Voters have been reminded that they are not allowed to use cell phones in the voting booths to take photos of their ballot papers.