Croatia dissolves parliament, prompting snap election in May

Critics believe that the prime minister wants to bring the elections forward because he fears that the popularity of his centreright HDZ party will have declined by then.

CROATIA’S parliament dissolved itself on Thursday on the initiative of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s government in order to pave the way for early elections by May 12.

All 143 lawmakers present from both the ruling party and the opposition in the 151-seat parliament voted in favour of the move, Croatian media reported. The next parliamentary elections had originally been scheduled for autumn.

Shortly beforehand, the parliament had passed a controversial law against whistleblowers under pressure from Plenkovic. The opposition fears that this is intended to cover up corruption by politicians from Plenkovic’s camp.

Critics believe that the prime minister wants to bring the elections forward because he fears that the popularity of his centre-right HDZ party will have declined by then. Plenkovic has been heavily criticized recently for his justice and media policies, with only a narrow majority of lawmakers backing him.

It was not initially clear when the early elections would take place. They could be scheduled for April 14 at the earliest or May 12 at the latest.

The date will be decided by President Zoran Milanovic. The pro-Russian politician is a bitter political enemy of Plenkovic, considered to be pro-Western. The presidential election is also due at the end of this year.

The bill targeting whistleblowers has been discussed in Croatia for months and has been criticized by the Council of Europe, Europe’s top human rights watchdog.

Following protests from journalists’ associations and opposition supporters, a passage in the original draft law that would have allowed for journalists to be prosecuted for publishing information received from whistleblowers was removed.