Yesterday's legislative elections in Croatia confirmed what the polls had predicted: the victory of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of the current prime minister, the Europeanist Andrej Plenkovic, a 54-year-old career diplomat who is in power since 2016. Official results, with almost 59% counted, indicated last night that the HDZ won 64 seats, far from an absolute majority (76), which would complicate the re-election of a Plenkovic government .
Accusations of corruption against Plenkovic's formation, which led to the resignation of several ministers this legislature, makes the search for partners difficult, but creating an alternative around the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), which came second, it is also expected to be complicated.
The SDP and the Rivers of Justice coalition obtained 42 deputies last night. The leader of the SDP, the current president of the country, has been the real protagonist of these elections. A 57-year-old lawyer, populist and Eurosceptic, Milanovic announced a month ago his intention to run for prime minister, a position he already held between 2011 and 2016.
Since he did not resign as president to participate in the election campaign for his party, as required by the Constitutional Court, the Croatian president created an unprecedented political situation. The High Court warned Milanovic that his position as head of state, which he acceded to after winning the 2020 presidential election in the second round with 53% of the vote, was incompatible with his participation in a campaign electoral In Croatia, the presidency is a protocol position that should be exercised in a neutral way, but Milanovic has been the main critic of the HDZ during the election campaign and has disregarded the opinion of the Constitutional Court.
In addition, the president is the one who has the powers to call elections and Milanovic called yesterday's elections on a weekday, instead of a public holiday, with the argument that attendance at the polls would be greater, although finally the day had to be converted into a non-working day to facilitate the vote.
In third place was the right-wing ultra-nationalist Moviment Patriòtic (DP), with 13 seats, whose support may be decisive in forming a government. The fourth most voted group yesterday was the liberal Most (Pont), with 9 deputies, followed by the centre-left and environmentalist Mozemo (Podem), with 8.
Since 2020 the HDZ conservatives have governed in coalition with a liberal formation and the support of minority MPs.
The Croatian Parliament is made up of 151 deputies: 140 correspond to the ten constituencies into which the country is divided; eight are elected by national minorities, and three by Croats living abroad.
Croatia has been a member of the EU since 2013 and on January 1, 2023 it joined the euro zone and the Schengen area of European free movement.
