The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on the Croatian minority in Serbia to exercise their democratic right to vote in Sunday's elections and support Tomislav Zigmanov's Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV).

Serbia is holding early presidential and parliamentary elections on April 3.

The DSHV slate has been supported by legitimate Croatian political representatives in the Croatian National Council in Serbia, as well as a majority of Croatian political and social institutions in Serbia, the ministry said.

It is important that the Croatian national minority gets its representatives in the Serbian parliament, so that it can be part of important political processes such as the institutional preservation of the national cultural heritage, the institutional strengthening and funding of minority institutions, and the restitution of seized cultural assets, theyadded.

The absorption of EU pre-accession funds is also important, the ministry said, calling on Croats in Serbia to stand united in order to achieve a good election result and better political status.

This matters because in these elections, Serbia is again failing to comply with the 2005 bilateral agreement on the protection of national minorities, the ministry said, adding that Croatia will continue to insist on compliance with the agreement.

The ministry noted that Serbia is an EU membership candidate and that good-neighbourly relations and the rule of law are the foundations of accession.

The Croatian government will continue to cooperate with Croatian political representatives and to politically and materially support the Croatian community in Serbia so that it can nurture its national identity and cultural heritage, the ministry said.