The Official Gazette's printing office in Zagreb started printing 13.7 million ballots for the upcoming local election on May 16. The printing will eventually cost some 4.5 million kuna (€600,000), state agency Hina reported on Wednesday, without explaining whether this figure is in any way unusual.

Croatia has close to 3.7 million registered voters, meaning that the elections will require the printing of about 3.5 ballots per each voter. Some 47,600 candidates will be running for 9,600 political seats at various local levels of government.

Hina counted 1,232 different ballots that need to be printed for the election of 20 county prefects and hundreds of mayors as well as members of county-level and city-level assemblies. In addition to ballot slips, “forms to take minutes and procedures by election committees also need to be prepared, including ballot boxes and cardboard screens for ballot booths,” Hina reported.

On Tuesday Hina had reported that one in ten out of the country’s 555 towns and municipalities have already produced a winner in places where incumbent mayors are running unopposed, including 48 where current mayors are affiliated with the ruling HDZ party. Most of these are located in eastern Croatia – traditionally the party’s biggest stronghold.

The national election commission is expected to release instructions on Friday detailing pandemic rules for the elections. The rules “could be made more strict,” Hina reported, compared to the July 2020 parliament election, and masks will “probably” be mandatory for voters at all polling stations, as well as maintaining a minimal 2-metre social distance.

(€1 = 7.56 kuna)