Tihomir Oreskovic

The Croatian state attorney's office said on Monday that it has appealed against a recent first-instance ruling by the Zagreb Municipal Civil Court, which rejected a request from the state for convicted war criminal Mirko Norac and two of his co-perpetrators to pay the state the money that it has already given to their victims in compensation.

The preserved relics of St Leopold, a 19th-century Croat, are visiting Croatian and Montenegrin coastal cities and town from Thursday to Tuesday next week, where his body is likely to draw thousands of Catholic believers to churches.

The saga over the payment of "per diems" to advisers in the Croatian government and state attorney's office for fictional trips will likely be resolved in the course of a wider investigation, an expert told BIRN.

Despite a dispute with the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic may win the upcoming local elections in May, political analyst Zarko Puhovski told BIRN.

Reports last week suggested that the HDZ rejected Bandic's city budget proposal for 2017 in order to initiate a process to oust him.

After 23 days of negotiations with future partners in government, Andrej Plenkovic, president of the leading centre-right party, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, is due to be named prime minister-designate on Monday by the country's President.

BELGRADE - The Croats go to the polls on Sunday to choose the government for the second time in ten months.

Voters in Croatia are going to the polls on Sunday to take part in the second parliamentary elections since November of last year, with no party heading for an outright majority.

There are 3.8 million eligible voters in the country who can cast ballots to elect 151 MPs, out of which eight are for national minorities and three to Bosnian Croats and the diaspora.

Polling stations opened at 7am for just under 3.8 million voters who have an opportunity to cast votes for parliament for the second time in Croatia in ten months.

Voters in Croatia and abroad - diaspora and Bosnian Croats - can choose from among 177 lists of parties, coalitions and individual candidates for 12 constituencies.

Tomislav Karamarko, who also holds the position of vice prime minister, said on Tuesday that his HDZ party will initiate a motion of no confidence to oust Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic because it believes the government has become dysfunctional.

Karamarko said that his party was ready for new elections, but Croatia "does not have time for that".

Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic has called on his deputies Tomislav Karamarko and Bozo Petrov to resign, "for the sake of national interests."

Oreskovic also said he had no plans to resign himself, but that the departure of Karamarko and Petrov from the coalition government "would represent a confirmation of its stability."