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Local elections were held in Croatia on 13 April 1997. These were first local elections in Croatia after the war and the unification of the territory.
Regional and local self-government elections are conducted so that three quarters of the members each county, city or municipal councils were elected through a joint list and the remaining quarter through individual constituencies. The electoral threshold was set at 5% for parties running independently, at 8% for any two-party coalition, and at 11% for any coalition of three or more parties 11%. In constituencies where two or more candidates received the same number of votes the election was repeated. The number of councilors elected depended on the population of each constituency. Municipalities and towns up to 10,000 inhabitants elected 20 councilors, municipalities and towns up to 20,000 inhabitants elected 25 councilors, cities up to 40,000 inhabitants elected 30 councilors, cities up to 100,000 inhabitants elected 40 councilors, and cities with over 100,000 inhabitants elected 45 councilors, same as counties. Inhabitants of Zagreb elected 50 councilors for the City Assembly of Zagreb. [1] [2] City and municipality mayors as well as county prefects were elected by relevant city, municipality or county council. [3] In some constituencies the total number of seats differed slightly due special additional seats for national minorities which were assigned independently.
In the area of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia the election was conducted with the support and under the supervision of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium. [4] Successful organization of these elections was a precondition for the establishment of new local Croatian institutions in the region and for the closure of the parallel Serb regional assembly by May 1, 1997. The same applied to the local Executive Council which was replaced by the Joint Council of Municipalities. [4] The parallel Serb regional Assembly invited citizens to participate in the election only 48 hours before the election day, but UNTAES only permitted voter registration until April 12. These two factors contributed to a low turnout in this area, forcing UNTAES to extend the election in this region for a couple of days. [4] Ahead of the election, local parallel institutions organized the 1997 Eastern Slavonia integrity referendum. [4]
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County | County council | ||
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Plurality | Seats | ||
Bjelovar-Bilogora | HDZ | 21/40 | |
Brod-Posavina | HDZ | 28/40 | |
Dubrovnik-Neretva | HDZ | 20/40 | |
Istria | IDS | 26/40 | |
Karlovac | HDZ | 24/40 | |
Koprivnica-Križevci | HSS | 21/40 | |
Krapina-Zagorje | HDZ | 20/40 | |
Lika-Senj | HDZ | 34/45 | |
Međimurje | HSLS, HSS | 19/40 | |
Osijek-Baranja | HDZ | 25/45 | |
Požega-Slavonia | HDZ | 26/41 | |
Primorje-Gorski Kotar | SDP, PGS, HNS | 18/40 | |
Sisak-Moslavina | HDZ | 29/40 | |
Split-Dalmatia | HDZ | 23/40 | |
Šibenik-Knin | HDZ | 25/40 | |
Varaždin | HDZ, HKDS, HSP | 23/40 | |
Virovitica-Podravina | HDZ | 24/42 | |
Vukovar-Syrmia | HDZ | 24/40 | |
Zadar | HDZ | 25/40 | |
Zagreb County | HDZ | 26/45 | |
City of Zagreb | HDZ | 24/50 | |
Source: Election results [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] |
1 Complete data not available. The numbers in parentheses represent the total number of available seats.