In Croatia, the conservatives led
by outgoing premier Andrej Plenković, in power for nearly eight
years, are the favorite in the general elections scheduled for
April 17, with 31 percent of the vote, according to the latest
poll released by public TV station Htv, the Union
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) would be by far the leading
party nationwide, able to reappoint its leader, 51-year-old
former diplomat Andrej Plenković, to head the country's
government, for a third four-year term.
In second place should be the Social Democrats (SDP), whose
informal leader is the current president of the Republic, Zoran
Milanović, former premier from 2011 to 2015 and a historical
rival of Plenković. A 7% share that the Greens should win must
be added to the center-left coalition. Some smaller centrist and
liberal parties would enter the Parliament of Zagreb, the
151-member Sabor, leaning toward a coalition to replace the
current government with a center-left one.
The right-wingers present themselves in two blocs. The first,
the Movement Patriotic (DP), is strong in the east of the
country, in Slavonia, but at the national level, it would get
about ten percent.
The Bridge (Most), a sovereignist party critical of the
Europeanist policies of the HDZ, with strong anti-migratory
rhetoric, would get around seven percent.
The poll results, translated into the number of deputies, give
the conservatives 60 seats. To these seats must be added the
three from the Croatian diaspora and the eight from ethnic
minorities, traditionally aligned with the winning side. If
confirmed, these numbers would give Plenković a comfortable
advantage over 71 deputies, but still without reaching the
majority of 76.
For now, therefore, the election outcome looks like a repeat
of the previous elections, held in July 2020, when, however, the
HDZ obtained slightly higher percentages, and Plenković could
announce that he had formed the majority government as early as
a few hours after the polls closed.
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