Over 6,500 polling stations were opened at 0700 hours Sunday throughout Croatia for the election of the 10th European Parliament, in which just over 3.7 million voters will decide which 12 Croatian deputies will represent them in the 720-seat Parliament in Brussels in the next five years.

Also 98 polling stations are being organised for Croatian voters living in 40 countries.

Due to the time difference, the first polling stations abroad were open on Saturday, in Australia, at 11 PM Croatian time. The last polling station to open and close will be in Los Angeles, closing at 4 AM on Monday.

This will be the fourth time Croatians will vote in European elections. They first did so on 14 April 2013, before the country entered the EU the following 1 July, and most recently in May 2019.

As of 31 May, of the 3,731,860 eligible voters, 3,515,100 are Croatian residents, including 3,567 who registered for voting abroad and 31 nationals of other EU member states. Also, 9,652 voters registered to vote outside their place of residence.

There are 216,760 actively registered voters without residence in Croatia.

In Croatia, twenty-five slates with 300 candidates in total are standing in the European elections.

Unlike parliamentary elections, where deputies to the Sabor are elected in 12 constituencies, in the European elections, the whole of Croatia, including voters outside the country, is treated as one electoral unit. Another difference is that in parliamentary elections abroad, voting takes place over two days, while in the European elections, it’s just one day.

In Croatia, the polling stations close at 1900 hrs Sunday.

The Croatian State Electoral Commission (DIP) can publish the first results about elected Croatian MEPs after 2300 hrs, when the last polling stations are closed in Italy.

“The European Parliament will publish the results of the 2024 European elections per Member State, as well as a projection of its composition on 9 June 2024. In full respect of national electoral laws, Parliament’s contractor Verian will establish EU and national seat projections. Available as of 20:15 GMT+2, the European overview will provide a first overall projection with global figures for the political groups based on the structure of the outgoing Parliament,” according to the information on the EP website.

Around 360 million EU citizens are casting their votes to elect 720 members of the 10th European Parliament on 6-9 June.

On the fourth and final day, voting is taking place in Croatia and another 20 member-states, with Italy set to be the last country to close its ballot boxes at 23.00 CET.