April 17, 2024 – 9:34 pm
Based on opinion polls published by Nova TV on Wednesday evening, the ruling center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party won the Croatian parliamentary elections, but as was already clear from preliminary polls, it will not be able to form a government. On its own, MTI reports.
According to an opinion poll based on voter polls, the Croatian Democratic Union and its coalition partners won 58 seats, and the Ijazaj Fulijo coalition, founded by the opposition Social Democratic Party, won 44 seats in the 151-member parliament. The right-wing conservative Haza Mozgalom party, led by Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava, came in third place, winning 13 seats, and five other parties also won seats. Opinion polls before the elections predicted similar results.
Participation in Wednesday's vote recorded a record high, with 50.60 percent of those eligible to vote by 5:30 p.m., while at the same time in 2020 the percentage reached 34.04 percent. Croatian Democratic Union Vice President Branko Pasic said the high turnout gives the winner greater legitimacy, and he said he was more than satisfied with the results.
Biljana Burzan, a member of the European Parliament for the Social Democrats, said she was happy that the HDZ won far fewer seats than in the last elections, while the Social Democrats won more seats. Borzan added that it will be difficult to predict the formation of the government at the present time, because he believes that this will require long talks. If neither party succeeds in agreeing on a government coalition, new elections must be called.
