Coming out of the polls, Croatia’s ruling HDZ party is on course to win 58 seats out of 151 in Parliament.
Croatia’s ruling party, HDZ, is expected to win Wednesday’s elections. parliamentary election but with fewer seats than before and without a majority, according to an Ipsos poll published on the local channel Nova TV.
The HDZ was on course to win 58 seats in the 151-seat parliament, fewer than the 66 it previously held. But that would still be more than the opposition coalition led by the Social Democrats (SDP), which is expected to win 44 seats, according to exit forecasts.
The right-wing Homeland Movement is expected to come third with 13 seats.
Croatians voted in large numbers in the parliamentary elections after a bitter campaign between the outgoing prime minister and a populist president who wanted the prime ministership. The Croatian Constitutional Court previously ruled that the president cannot run for prime minister, or campaign for a party, without first resigning. Croatian President Zoran Milianovic ignored the order.
The State Election Commission said turnout as of 4:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. GMT) was 50.6 percent, compared to 34.4 percent at the same time in the last parliamentary elections, held in 2020. The state election offices voting closed at 7 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. GMT). .
The result, if confirmed, would likely usher in a period of political instability in the European Union member state, as major parties seek to forge alliances with other factions with divergent political views .
The confrontation between conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and left-wing populist President Milanovic comes as the country struggles with corruption, a labor shortage, the highest inflation rate in the euro zone and irregular migration.
High inflation and corruption scandals over the past eight years have shaken support for the HDZ, which has dominated Croatian politics since independence in 1991.
Calling the elections a “referendum on the future of the country,” Milanovic, 57, urged citizens to “go out and vote for anyone except the HDZ.”
Calling Plenkovic a “crime godfather,” Milanovic highlighted the recent appointment of the country’s new attorney general, a judge with alleged ties to corruption suspects.
Several of Plenkovic’s ministers resigned following accusations and the fight against corruption was key to Croatia’s 2013 EU bid.
Plenkovic has repeatedly accused Milanovic of being “pro-Russian” due to his criticism of the EU’s support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion, as well as his opposition to the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia, member of NATO.
