Croatia to hold early vote before European elections in June

Brussels – In its super-election year, Croatia is racing toward the polls as early as the first semester. In addition to June’s European elections (not scheduled until June 9 in the latest country to join the EU), Croatian voters will elect a new national parliament several months ahead of the institutional timetable. “The elections for the Croatian Parliament will be held before those for the European Parliament,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced late yesterday afternoon (March 4), speaking to the press at the end of what he called “the last session” of the national legislative body “before its dissolution.”

Premier Plenković provided the first timetable for early legislative elections, with the dissolution of the Croatian Sabor “by March 22”. According to the provisions of the national Constitution, President of the Republic Zoran Milanović will decide the date on which to summon voters to the polls – initially scheduled for September 22 – but still between 30 and 60 days after the dissolution of Parliament: therefore, May 21, at the latest, just over two weeks before the European elections. Outgoing Prime Minister Plenković – President of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) – has also anticipated that he will again lead his conservative center-right party in the constituency that includes the center of the capital Zagreb.

After over two weeks of protests in major cities across the country came the decision to bring forward legislative elections (in the year when Croatia will also vote for a new president of the Republic in December). In addition to mounting pressure from individual professional groups over dissatisfaction with the policies of the Zagreb executive – from teachers to judges and doctors over salaries to journalists against changes to the Criminal Code to make it a crime to publish leaks – it was the center and left-wing parties that catalyzed the desire to “defend democracy”. In particular, the protests focused on the appointment of Ivan Turudić as prosecutor general with the green light from Croatian deputies, due to his proximity to HDZ and Plenković’s possible protection from corruption cases should he lose his immunity after the next election round.

The Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), the environmentalist left-wing Možemo, and nine other liberal and left-wing opposition parties submitted a formal request for the dissolution of the Croatian Parliament and an immediate return to the polls to facilitate the emergence of a non-HZD-led government for the first time after 13 years (Plenković has been prime minister for 8). At the same time, they excluded from the united front right-wing parties such as the Eurosceptic conservatives of Most and the nationalists of the Patriotic Movement since their criticism of the outgoing government was about not being tough enough on migration policies, for example. PM Plenković – respected at the table of 27 EU leaders but not without doubts also on the area in which he is recognized as one of the most charismatic, the enlargement of the Union to the Western Balkans – blamed “radical left groups” for organizing the demonstrations against his government.