LOW TURNOUT OF VOTERS AT POLLS WHERE VOTING WAS REPEATED

ZAGREB, Jan 17 (Hina) - At 11 polling stations in Croatia where the voting for the House of Representatives was repeated on Sunday, out of 9,010 eligible voters 3,049 cast their ballots (or 33.84 percent), the Croatian National Electoral Commission said last night. The turnout of voters at the repeated voting was lower compared to the turnout on January 3 when the parliamentary election was held. This time there was no problem at those 11 polling stations nor did the Commission receive any complaint yesterday. On January 3 there were more offered ballots than registered voters at those polling stations. The voting had to be repeated due to such irregularities at four polling stations in the fifth electoral unit, at two polling stations in the eighth unit, at four polling stations in the ninth electoral unit and at one polling station in the tenth unit. The Electoral Commission is to announce preliminary unofficial results of the parliamentary election on Monday, but it has been assessed that the returns from the polling stations where the voting was repeated on January 16 will not impact on previously announced preliminary results. (hina) ms