In a referendum on Sunday, January 22, Croatians will vote on their country's accession to the European Union.
There are over 4.5 million eligible voters who will be able to cast their ballots at 6,749 polling stations in the country and abroad.
On Sunday Croatians will have an opportunity to voice their position on whether or not the country should join the European Union with which Zagreb was negotiated between October 2005 and 30 June 2011, when Croatia's EU entry talks were wrapped up and the Treaty of Accession was signed.
Should the public vote for the EU admission, Croatia will join the bloc on 1 July 2013, after the Croatian parliament and national parliaments of the 27 EU members ratify the Accession Treaty.
In order for the Yes vote to pass, at least 50 per cent plus one voter of all the voters who take part in the referendum are required to vote in favour.
Voting will take place from 7 am until 7 pm both in Croatia and abroad where, due to the time difference the voting starts on Saturday (New Zealand) and end on Monday (Los Angeles)
A total of 4,504,686 Croatian citizens are registered in the voter register, of whom 4,092,058 have permanent residence in Croatia and 412,628 live abroad, Hina learned from the Ministry of Administration earlier this month.
According to the latest census, which was published by the National Bureau of Statistics last June, Croatia has 4,290,612 inhabitants.
Unlike at elections, campaigning will not be banned on referendum day, except at polling stations and within 50 metres of them.
The State Election Commission (DIP) will release information about the turnout on its website at noon and at 5 pm. As of 8 pm, it will start releasing preliminary results, with updates every 10 minutes.
The DIP will hold a press conference at 10 pm to announce preliminary results, which are expected to be based on about 98 per cent of the ballots counted. The final result will be published after the expiry of all deadlines for objections and complaints.
The decision to call the referendum was adopted by the Croatian Parliament on December 23. The referendum question is "Are you in favour of Croatia becoming a member of the European Union?" and voters will be allowed to circle only one answer, "Yes" or "No".
The EU entry vote will be the second referendum in Croatia since 1991 when its citizens overwhelmingly voted for independence from Yugoslavia.
