Politics

  ZAGREB, July 6, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has received the support of ethnic minorities, the Croatian People's Party (HNS) and the Reformists to form the new government in a preliminary round of talks conducted with them, a government spokesman said on Twitter on Monday. "The Prime Minister has conducted an initial round of consultations with all elected representatives of ethnic minorities, the HNS and the Reformists. They have given their clear support to the new parliamentary majority and the HDZ government, to be led by Andrej Plenkovic," spokesman Marko Milic wrote on Twitter. Plenkovic's HDZ won 66 seats, HNS…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2020 - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday congratulated the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on their convincing victory in the July 5 parliamentary election, noting that there was room for the improvement of bilateral relations. "I congratulate Andrej Plenkovic and the HDZ on their convincing victory. I am confident that there is room for the improvement of relations between Serbia and Croatia," Vucic said on Twitter. The HDZ won 66 votes in Sunday's parliamentary vote, and on the same day the Serbian electoral commission published official results of the June 21…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2020 - Political analysts Davor Gjenero, Vjekoslav Raos and Nikola Baketa said on Sunday, after preliminary election results were released, that the new government could be formed soon considering the convincing victory of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). "Plenkovic has evidently won a mandate to form the government without coalition partners, in cooperation with minority representatives only. We have not had such a situation since 2003 and under the current election law, Plenkovic has won the best result for HDZ in its history," said Gjenero. Raos said the HDZ's unexpectedly convincing victory showed that Plenkovic's tactic with calling…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2020 - HDZ president Andrej Plenkovic said on Sunday, after winning the parliamentary election, that this was a big victory and big voter support as well as a huge obligation which they would take into account every day of the new term in dealing with the challenges facing Croatia. "Such support by a majority of Croatian voters is a huge obligation for us and we will take it into account every day over the next four years. We'll take it into account because Croatia needs solutions for the economy, public health challenges, for strengthening democracy, strengthening institutions, strengthening…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2020 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has scored a convincing victory in Sunday's parliamentary election, winning 66 seats, while the Social Democratic Party-led Restart Coalition has won 41, the State Election Commission said in the early hours of Monday after processing 94.90% of polling stations. The Homeland Movement has won 16 seats, the Bridge party eight and the green-left coalition led by the We Can! platform seven. The coalition of the Party with a First and Last Name, Pametno and Fokus has won three seats, while the Croatian People's Party (HNS) and Reformists have each won one.…

July 5, 2020 - The 2020 Croatian elections were held today in Croatia, amidst the coronavirus-crisis. We bring you the latest on the exit polls and the official results. 21:00 Updated exit poll: HDZ - 70 Restart Coalition - 42 Miroslav Škoro's Domovinski pokret - 15 Možemo! - 5 Most - 6 Pametno - 2 HSS - 2 Reformisti - 2 20:00 Updated exit poll: HDZ - 62 Restart Coalition - 43 Miroslav Škoro's Domovinski pokret - 14 Možemo! - 8 Most - 9 Pametno - 3 HSS - 1 Exit polls: At 7 pm, when the Croatian parliamentary elections…

ZAGREB, July 5, 2020 - The coronavirus pandemic and restrictions introduced to curb the spreading of the virus did not discourage Croatians from going to the polls on Sunday, with 18.09% of eligible voters having voted by noon on Sunday. According to data from the State Electoral Commission, 620,000 voters cast their ballots by noon, which is only about 20,000 fewer voters than in the 2016 elections. Nearly four years ago, 640,000 or 18.7% of voters cast their ballots by noon. DIP will release updated information on the turnout at 5 p.m. Earlier in the day, the GONG election-monitoring nongovernmental organisation said…

ZAGREB, July 5, 2020 - Fifty-five people infected with the novel coronavirus have expressed a wish to vote in the July 5 parliamentary election in Croatia. Most of them, 24, come from Constituency No. 4, 16 come from the first constituency, nine from the fifth, four from the seventh and two from the tenth constituency, State Electoral Commission member Slaven Hojski said on Sunday morning. People infected with the coronavirus will be able to vote with the help of another person of their confidence, who will fill in the ballot as instructed by the infected person and give it to a member of a polling…

ZAGREB, July 5, 2020 - More than 6,500 polling stations throughout Croatia were opened at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning for the election for the 10th national legislature, and they will be closed at 7 p.m. There are 3.86 million eligible voters who are electing 151 parliamentary deputies: 140 in ten constituencies, three in a constituency designed for the expatriate community, and eight in Constituency No. 12, intended for ethnic minorities, that is three for Serb representatives and five for another ethnic minorities.. Apart from voting in Croatia, also polling places are being set up for expat communities abroad. Croatia's tenth parliamentary election began…

ZAGREB, July 4, 2020 - Electoral silence, which is in force in Croatia on Saturday and Sunday, has been violated fewer times than at previous elections, Hina has learned from the State Electoral Commission (DIP). Citizens have been complaining mostly about text messages and posts on social networks, seeking protection of personal data, and wondering how some election participants got their addresses to send them election-related mail, DIP deputy chair Vesna Fabijancic-Krizanic said. Depending on the character of those complaints, DIP forwards them to the HAKOM regulatory authority for network industries or the Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP). We cannot say that the number of complaints is large, there…