Croatians Voting in Early Elections

Voters in Croatia are going to the polls on Sunday to take part in the second parliamentary elections since November of last year, with no party heading for an outright majority.

There are 3.8 million eligible voters in the country who can cast ballots to elect 151 MPs, out of which eight are for national minorities and three to Bosnian Croats and the diaspora.

Some polls have predicted that an alliance led by Social Democrats is to get up to 60 seats, with conservative HDZ projected to garner a few seats less.

Center-right MOST party is tipped to lag much behind, but will be needed by either of the two parties to secure a parliamentary majority.

Results are not expected to be much different from last year's when HDZ, SDP and MOST won 59, 56, and 19 seats, respectively.

The country's previous legislature dissolved itself in June to give way to a new snap vote after a motion of no confidence in the government of Tihomir Ore?kovi? was passed last week.

At the time, Croatia had been gripped by a political crisis since January due to irreconcilable differences between members of the coalition government, in particular between HDZ and MOST.

The crisis deepened further when First Deputy Prime Minister and president of HDZ, Tomislav Karamarko, was found to be in conflict of interest due to business connections between his wife and a consultant to the Hungarian oil company MOL, which is part of Croatia's oil company INA.

MOST demanded the resignation of Karamarko, but he refused to step down without a vote on motion of no confidence in the whole government.

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