Croatian parliament to be dissolved on 14 March, elections to be held in April, May

The Croatian parliament, the Sabor, will be dissolved on 14 March, and parliamentary elections will be held in April or May, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced on Friday.

According to Croatian laws, parliamentary elections must be held within 30 to 60 days from the date of dissolution of parliament. Since elections in Croatia are traditionally held on Sundays, this means that the elections should be held between April 14 and May 12. The decision on the precise election date itself will be made by the Head of State, Zoran Milanović.

“As soon as possible, after the Parliament is dissolved, I will inform the public about my decision when the elections will be held,” Milanović said on Friday.

Plenković added that the coalition partners of his centre-right HDZ had agreed on this. However, he will not consult with the parties on the election date, as the responsibility lies with him.

According to the polls, the HDZ is likely to win a relative majority again this time, but it seems that the party will face greater difficulties in forming a government after the new elections than it did in 2020.

The HDZ is campaigning by reminding voters that it brought Croatia into the eurozone and Schengen and that it has managed to maintain citizens’ standards through anti-inflationary measures in times of crisis. The HDZ also boasts of the relatively high economic growth rates Croatia has achieved in recent years.

The opposition, on the other hand, is divided and very heterogeneous. The centre-left SDP recently announced forming a coalition called “For a Better Croatia” with nine smaller parties, some of which are not even represented in parliament.

(Adriano Milovan | Euractiv.hr)