Croatian PM sees no threat in centre-left opposition

Croatian PM sees no threat in centre-left opposition | INFBusiness.com

Ten left-wing and centrist parties have formed the “For a Better Croatia” coalition, led by the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP/S&D) – a new formation that centre-right HDZ leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has already dismissed as a threat ahead of the parliamentary elections.

The parties are small and do not currently have representation in the Croatian parliament.

“Here are 10 political parties from the left and the centre that fully understand what kind of moment Croatia is in now (and) that fully understand the direction in which the (centre-right Croatian Democratic Union party) HDZ is pushing Croatia,” SDP president Peđa Grbin said Tuesday.

However, some leading leftist opposition parties are missing such as the left-green party Možemo, whose coordinator, Sandra Benčić, said the party was only negotiating a coalition with the SDP in four of Croatia’s 10 constituencies. This is also the case for the Social Democrats, which analysts warn could stop the coalition from achieving the election results it strives for.

Plenković already commented on the formation, dismissing them as potential competition in the upcoming election in an interview for public broadcaster HRT on Tuesday evening.

He also dismissed the possibility of a coalition with the conservative Most and populist Domovinski Pokret parties.

A source with expertise in the field also commented for Euractiv, saying, “If the SDP were to enter into a coalition with the Social Democrats, it would get far more votes than it will get on its own in the elections” – meaning that if they do not join “a lot of votes on the left will be scattered.”

“There is great dissatisfaction in Croatian society, but it is an open question whether the opposition will be able to turn this dissatisfaction into parliamentary mandates,” political analyst Božo Kovačević told Euractiv.

However, it is unclear to what extent the coalition will be able to beat Croatia’s ruling party, the HDZ, in the game of swaying voters, as both parties are likely to target voters of similar political leanings, although the HDZ is more interested in the right and centre-right vote.

“This is not the same situation as in the last elections (held in July 2020) when Plenković tried to tap into the pool of disillusioned voters on the centre-left and partially succeeded in doing so,” a source familiar with HDZ’s situation told Euractiv.

“Leftist-liberal parties are not a problem for HDZ at all. This time, HDZ will focus on the right-wing electorate, but it’s hard to say how successful it will be when Domovinski Pokret (Homeland Movement) and Most (The Bridge) already exist there,” the source added.

The source added that HDZ could face the same problem if it achieves a relative majority in the elections, but not enough to form a government.

“Most (parties) do not even want to work with HDZ, and HDZ also has bad experiences with Most,” the source said, adding that “Domovinski Pokret […] wants to work with HDZ, not Plenković” — who recently has been slowly turning towards the party’s more further-right members.

According to a February poll, HDZ, SDP and Možemo had 28.7%, 13.7% and 7.6% of the vote respectively, while Most and Domovinski had 7% and 6.9%. Other parties polled at 1.5% or less – indicating that while HDZ is likely to win a relative majority, it is unlikely to have enough votes to form a governing coalition with its traditional partners.

(Adriano Milovan | Euractiv.hr)