site.btaCroatian Political Scientist: Croatian Democratic Union Cabinet to Be More Stable than Minority Cabinet of Social Democrats

A coalition government of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, which has governed Croatia so far, would be more stable than a minority government of the Social Democrats, Croatian political analyst Karlo Jurak said in an interview for BTA.

After Croatia's Wednesday parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's ruling Croatian Democratic Union party won the most seats in parliament - 61, according to the provisional results. The number of MPs in the Croatian Parliament is 151. With this result, Plenkovic cannot form an independent government and to become prime minister for the third time he will have to hold tough negotiations. In the 2020 elections, the HDZ had 66 seats.

The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party, and the coalition around it got 42 seats in Parliament, which is only one seat more than in the previous elections, despite the support of President Zoran Milanovic, who after scheduling the parliamentary elections announced that he would be the Social Democrats' candidate for prime minister. 

"In whatever combination the HDZ forms a government, it will be more stable than a heterogeneous government, which is what President Milanovic will try to negotiate," Jurak said.

According to preliminary data from the State Election Commission, the right-wing nationalist Homeland Movement party won 14 seats, the right-wing The Bridge party - 11 seats, and the green-left We Can! platform - 10 seats. Three smaller parties are also entering Parliament. Representatives of minorities are guaranteed eight seats and the diaspora three. 

Jurak is of the opinion that populism has a hard time holding ground in Croatia. 

He described the voter turnout, which reached around 62%, as solid for Croatian conditions. The fact that the elections were organised for the first time on Wednesday played a positive role.  

"There are no pro-Russian forces in Croatia, there may be individuals in each party, some who have pro-Russian sentiments, but nobody is pursuing pro-Russian policies," the Croatian analyst said.