A total of 3,740,951 voters will be entitled to vote in Croatian elections for the European Parliament on April 14, or as many as 763,814 fewer than at the referendum on Croatia's accession to the European Union, held in January 2012, Public Administration Minister Arsen Bauk said on Friday.
Bauk held a press conference to announce the number of people who would be entitled to vote in the European Parliament elections, according to which 3,738,708 of eligible voters reside in Croatia and 2,243 live outside the country.
By comparison, 4,504,765 people were entitled to vote in the EU accession referendum, of whom 4,092,137 were resident in Croatia and 412,628 were from the diaspora, or 763,814 fewer than the number of voters who are entitled to take part in the forthcoming vote.
The latest figures followed the expiry of the April 3 deadline for the review of electoral rolls. "I think that the voter register at this moment is more credible than it was at the EU accession referendum," the minister said.
Under the new Voter Registration Act, a register of voters is to be compiled for each election, in which all adult citizens of Croatia who reside in the country and have a valid ID card are entitled to vote, as well as non-resident citizens who register for that particular election.
Bauk noted that the number of voters could increase on election day by the number of those who can exercise their voting right with a voting certificate (persons who did not have a valid ID card or who did not register to vote).
Bauk said that at its next session, the government would formally announce local elections for May 19.
