Croatia’s ruling conservatives win most seats
ZAGREB, Croatia (AFP) — Croatia’s ruling conservative party won the most seats in a parliamentary election Wednesday but not enough to form a government, according to almost complete official results, with tough talks ahead to gather a majority.
Incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s Croatian Democratic Union won 60 seats in the 151-member assembly, results from more than 90 percent of the polling stations showed. In the previous 2020 vote, the party won 66 seats.
A center-left coalition led by the Social Democrats won 42. “The HDZ has for the third (consecutive) time convincingly won a parliamentary election,” Plenkovic told his supporters in Zagreb early Thursday.
The party will start gathering a new parliamentary majority to form its government on Thursday morning, he said.
SDP leader Pedja Grbin admitted that the results were not what the party wished for, but said they “showed that ... people want a change.” “It’s not over,” he said at the party headquarters in Zagreb, announcing that talks on a possible post-election coalition would start Thursday.
The nationalist right-wing Homeland Movement party came third, with 14 seats.
Analysts estimate it has a big negotiating potential, which could make it a kingmaker in forming a new government.
An ultra-conservative green-left party won 11 seats each. and a and 10
“It will be a very difficult negotiating process” to form a new government, political analyst Tihomir Cipek told Nova TV.
Turnout was 60 percent, compared with 47 percent during the 2020 vote.
The elections were held after a bitter campaign between Plenkovic and left-wing populist President Zoran Milanovic, who campaigned despite a court warning.
The showdown came as the European Union nation wrestles with corruption, a labor shortage, the highest inflation rate in the eurozone and undocumented migration.
For months, Plenkovic and his HDZ seemed poised for an easy victory that would secure his third term as premier.
But in mid-March, Milanovic — who tops political popularity surveys — made the shock announcement that he would challenge Plenkovic and become candidate for the Social Democrats.
The Croatian presidency is a largely ceremonial office for a person without a political affiliation.
Calling Plenkovic the “godfather of crime,” Milanovic, 57, highlighted the recent appointment of the country’s new chief prosecutor, a judge with alleged ties to corruption suspects.
Corruption has long been the Achilles’ heel of the HDZ.
Plenkovic’s ministers have stepped down following accusations and the anti-graft fight was key to Croatia’s bid to join the EU in 2013.
Milanovic canvassed across Croatia despite the country’s top court ruling that he could only stand in the election if he stepped down as president first.
Plenkovic — who has served as premier since 2016 — accused his rival of violating the constitution, engaging in hate speech and called him a “coward” for not resigning.