Ruling party fails to win majority

Croatia's ruling conservative party won the most seats in a parliamentary election on 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 (HDZ) 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 centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats (SDP) won 42.

"The HDZ has for the third (consecutive) time convincingly won a parliamentary election," Plenkovic told his supporters in Zagreb early yesterday.

The party will start gathering a new parliamentary majority to form its government yesterday 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 Yesterday.

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 and a green-left party won 11 and 10 seats each.

"It will be a very difficult negotiating process" to form a new government, political analyst Tihomir Cipek told Nova TV.

High turnout

Turnout was 60 per cent, compared with 47 per cent 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 labour 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.

Several of 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.

The prime minister stressed his role in guiding the country of 3.8 million people into the eurozone and Europe's passport-free Schengen area last year.

But with an average monthly wage of 1,240 euros (US$1,345), the country remains one of the EU'S poorest.

"The global security situation has never been more tense and more dangerous ... so we need to have very responsible people running Croatia in the next four years," Plenkovic, 54, said after voting in Zagreb.

The HDZ has ruled Croatia for most of the period since its independence

fromnyudgoslavia in 1991, while the SDP has been the opposition mainstay.