ZAGREB, May 24 (Xinhua) -- As the official election campaign for the European Parliament elections in Croatia ends on Friday, the country's pro-European parties are poised to become the winners of the elections, a survey has shown.
According to the latest survey, conducted by the national television and published on Monday, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is expected to get five mandates, the SDP three mandates, while anti-establishment Living Wall, the liberal Amsterdam Coalition and the Bridge of Independent Lists are all predicted to get one mandate. Six parties are in the run for the last mandate that would be open once Britain leaves the European Union (EU).
On Sunday, 3.8 million voters in Croatia are going to the polls to elect 12 candidates for the European Parliament.
For Croatia, a southeastern European country that joined the EU in 2013, the election would be a major electoral test for the ruling center-right government, the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) whose support is in decline and other Eurosceptic parties.
On Sunday voters will have a chance to choose between 396 candidates and 33 lists, eight more than in 2014 when only 25 percent of voters showed up at the polls.
It will be the first election in Croatia since 2016 when the center-right HDZ formed the government with coalition partners. HDZ is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). On May 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Manfred Weber, the lead candidate for the EPP in the elections, attended the party's rally in Zagreb and gave support to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and HDZ's list.
Two days later, on May 20, Frans Timmermans, the lead candidate of the Party of European Socialists (PES), came to Croatia to show support for SDP and its leader Davor Bernardic.
"These elections are very important because they will decide on the future of the European Union. We believe that the EU should be more integrated, equal, with less inequality between its citizens, especially between those from more developed and less developed countries. The living standard of all EU citizens should be equal and that's why we insist on the higher wages, higher pensions and the same quality of health insurance," Bernardic told Xinhua.
He hopes that EU citizens will vote for a modern, open, tolerant and progressive European Union, and not for those who offer only fear. "Populist parties pose a significant threat in EU elections. We have to remember the past when Europe was scared of those who were different when there were wars and fights, and we have to learn from those mistakes. I believe that a significant majority of people will vote for open and stronger Europe and not for anti-European forces," Bernardic explained.
