Croatia will hold election for European Parliament for the first time

Croatia will this weekend hold its first-ever election to the European Parliament, less than three months before the country is scheduled to join the European Union. The 12 MEPs from Croatia elected on Sunday (14 April) will serve for just a year up to EU-wide elections in May 2014. After next year’s elections, the number of MEPs from Croatia will be cut to 11, as part of the deal to meet a 751-seat limit set by the Lisbon treaty.

Following a review of electoral registers, some 3.7 million Croatians are eligible to vote, 760,000 fewer than in a January 2012 referendum on joining the EU.

Sunday’s election has been separated from a local election scheduled for 19 May in a bid to increase the visibility of the European poll.