A total of 4,359 candidates, of whom 34.96 percent are women, will be running in the December 4 parliamentary election for 151 seats in the seventh Croatian parliament, the State Election Commission (DIP) said after electioneering started at 0000 hours on Thursday.

The number of candidates who have registered for the forthcoming election exceeds by 773 the number of candidates who ran in the 25 November 2007 parliamentary election, when there were 3,586 candidates. The share of women to run in the forthcoming election is 5.09 percent higher than in the previous election, when women accounted for 29.87 percent of the candidates.

DIP has approved as valid 313 slates (62 more than in 2007) for 11 constituencies, including 285 party slates (50 more than in 2007). This year, 28 candidates have submitted independent lists, 12 more than in 2007, when 16 such lists were submitted. Of the party lists, there are 17 more single-party slates and 33 more coalition lists as against 2007, when the register of political parties contained 101 political parties, 15 fewer than in the forthcoming election.

For Constituency No. 12, which is designated for ethnic minorities, DIP has approved the candidacies of 56 candidates, 16 fewer than in 2007. For example, the Serb ethnic minority has nominated seven fewer candidates than in 2007.

The candidates who have registered for the December 4 election are somewhat older, the average age being 45.1, than in 2007 (43.4). Most of the candidates (23.55%) are aged 41-50, followed by those aged 51-60 (22.75%). There are 10.26% of candidates aged under 30 and 15.13% of candidates over 60. The youngest candidates were born in 1993, and the oldest candidate is a woman aged 89.

Seven slates do not include any women candidates (the Autochthonous Croatian Party of Rights in three constituencies, the Croatian Party of Rights - HSP in three constituencies, and the Party of Croatian Unity in one constituency). At the same time, the HSP nominated a slate in Constituency No. 7 where all candidates are women.

DIP also said that two draft slates had been withdrawn. One is a draft independent slate headed by retired Roman Catholic priest Ivan Grubisic in Constituency No. 5, and the other is the draft slate "New Croatia" headed by Neven Botica in Constituency No. 7.

The draft slate of the Roma friendship association "Luna" was rejected because it was incomplete.