Quote:Many Croats will be spending part of the first Sunday after Christmas going to the polls to select a new President.
Polling stations open at 7am for a total of 3.7 million eligible voters. Besides voting in Croatia, polls will be organised in Croatian consulates and embassies worldwide for citizens residing abroad in the diaspora.
The country has held six presidential elections since declaring independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The President is elected for a five-year mandate and the vote normally goes to two rounds. The second is held if none of the candidates receives 50 per cent of all votes cast in the first round.
The election committee, DIP, will inform the public of the turn-out at 8pm, while the first results are expected after 9pm.
Official results must be declared no later than 48 hours after the polls close on Sunday.
Four candidates are standing, two on the left and two on the right. The favourite is the centre-left incumbent, Ivo Josipovic, who has the support of all parties in the governing coalition and of most parties on the left of the political spectrum.
The hope of the centre-right is Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, who is standing as the candidate of the main opposition Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, as well as some other parties on the right and centre-right.
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