Croatian elections fail to produce clear winner
September 11, 2016
The weekend elections in Croatia placed the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) ahead of their left-wing rivals, final results showed on Monday. The vote, however, failed to produce a clear winner amid growing political uncertainty in the EU's newest member state.
According to the final tally, 54 seats in the Croatian parliament went to the left-leaning Social Democrats (SDP) and 61 seats to the HDZ in the 151-seat assembly.
The new HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic, expected by many to become the next prime minister, declared victory late on Sunday.
"I guarantee that the next Croatian government will be stable," he said. "Tomorrow we will begin concrete negotiations for a stable cabinet."
With backing from the newcomers from Most ("Bridge"), the center-right HDZ took power from SDP 10 months ago. An internal crisis, however, prompted HDZ to vote out technocrat Tihomir Oreskovic. The then-party leader Tomislav Karamarko was soon forced to resign after failing to secure support for his own bid to lead the government.
With Most winning 13 seats in the weekend vote, the HDZ would need more seats for a majority. However, the conservative party might turn to lawmakers from the ethnic minorities, which are guaranteed eight seats.
Turnout in this election was 53 percent, 10 percent less than the previous vote in November, with some 3.8 million voters eligible to cast ballots.
Strong in the Balkans but weak in the EU
The political deadlock in the former Yugoslav republic has delayed the introduction of reforms necessary for Croatia to catch up with the rest of the European Union, while fueling nationalist rhetoric amid heightened tensions with neighboring Serbia. Ties with Serbia have fallen to their lowest level since Croatia's independence war in the first half of the 1990s.
A struggling economy has also been a factor in the election. Relying largely on tourism, it remains one of the EU's weakest, though still one of the strongest in the Balkans. However, despite an unemployment rate of more than 13 percent and six years of recession, Croatia's central bank has forecast recovery and growth of 2.3 percent this year.
ss, dj/tj (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)