The Croatian government on Wednesday made decisions on calling local elections for May 16 and on reimbursement of campaign costs.

Croatia holds local elections on the third Sunday in May every four years.

On May 16 2021, Croatian citizens will be choosing executive and legislative authorities in 576 local and regional government units  – mayors, county prefects, and their deputies as well as local councils and county assemblies.

Compared with the elections held four years ago, there will be 568 fewer deputy mayors and about 10 percent fewer members of local councils and county assemblies.

The number of local councils and county assemblies depends on the size of the population of the unit concerned. Units with a population of up to 1,000 will have the fewest representatives (7), while those with a population of 300,000 and over will have the most (47).

The number of deputies also depends on the size of the population of a given unit. Counties with more than 250,000 inhabitants will chose two deputy prefects and cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants will choose two deputy mayors. Counties with a population of less than 250,000 are entitled to one deputy prefect, and cities with a population of between 10,000 and 100,000 and those that also serve as the centre of their county will have one deputy mayor. Towns and municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants are not entitled to a deputy mayor.

Mayoral runoffs

Candidates for mayors and county prefects have to receive more than 50% of votes of the voters who have taken part in the election to be elected outright. If none of the candidates in a given unit obtains the necessary majority, two of the candidates with the largest number of votes go into a second round of voting, which will be held on 30 May.

Unlike presidential or parliamentary elections, in local elections voters can vote only in their place of residence and not elsewhere, either in Croatia or abroad.