Croatians Vote on EU Membership

Polling stations throughout the country opened at 7 a.m., and voters will be asked simply whether or not they support Croatia's EU membership bid.

After signing its accession treaty in December last year, Zagreb hopes the country will join the European bloc in July 2013.

Photo by Filip Horvat/AP

According to the latest opinion polls, published on Thursday, sixty per cent of Croatians will vote yes in the referendum.

The poll, conducted by the Ipsos plus agency and Nova TV, found that 31 per cent of voters planned to vote "no" and nine percent were undecided. Turnout is expected to stand at around 60 per cent.

While 4,5 million Croatians are eligible to vote in the referendum, including those who live outside the country, most opinion polls show that many won't go to the polls. There is no minimum turnout required for the referendum.

The vote on Sunday was preceded by three weeks of intense campaigning.

While both the government and the main opposition party strongly pushed for support of the country's EU membership bid, some anti-EU civic initiatives and small parties not represented in parliament managed to reach the public through media and social networks despite limited funds and PR experience.                                                                         Anti EU rally in Zagreb on January 21. Photo by Filip Horvat/AP

Ahead of the start of the official poll on Sunday, some experts warned that the pro-EU campaign wasn't serious enough.

"I'm worried about the referendum result, because I feel an anti-European atmosphere in the air. This was encouraged by the media, which gave its attention to all kind of eccentrics rather than contacting law professors,“ Sinisa Rodin, the head of the European public law department at the University of Zagreb.

Polls will stay open until 7 p.m., and the country's election commission will publish the first unofficial results at 10 p.m. Election watchdog GONG will monitor the referendum, and plans to announce its initial result estimates by 9 p.m. More than one thousand monitors from political parties and civic iniatives will observe the referendum.

If Croatians approve their country's EU accession and all the current 27 member states ratify Croatia's EU Accession agreement signed in December last year, Croatia is expected to become the 28th EU member state on July 1, 2013.