On the elections held on January 2nd 2005 4 403 871 croatian citizens with the rigth to vote chosed new Croatian president. Appart from few exceptions, the elections were conducted according to the electional law and international standards. Appropriate organization of the elections by the State Election Commission and Polling Station Commissions also contributed to the overall calm atmosphere. (03-JAN-05)
This is the general assesment of Citizens Organized to Monitor the Elections (GONG), domestic non-partisan organization entrusted with the observation of the presidential elections. Their preliminary assesment coinsists on the field reports from over 1000 GONG observers deployed all over Croatia on the election day.
-Allthough elections were conducted fairly and without major incidents some of the polling station commissions didn?t fully meet election procedures and were not composed according to legal framework. In addition, violations of electional silence were also noticed ? says the GONG preliminary report.
However, several independant candidates to the post most recently challenged the results of the elections claiming that media failed to respect the electional silence. Namely, leading electronic media in Croatia, including Croatian National Television, decided to publicize the exit polls even before the closing of polling stations.
-By doing so, they have seriously violated the electional law and prematurely suggested the outcome of the elections. ? stands in their joint statement.
Only 50,65 % of the overall number of registered voters decided to vote yesterday. Former president Stjepan Mesic with 49,03% of votes and his opponent Jadranka Kosor with 20,00% of votes will meet in the second round of the elections, foreseen for January 14th 2005.
