Croatia Election 2016, Explained

What You Need To Know:

✅ “It’s going to be more of the same;”
✅ “Neither side is going to win enough seats to have a clear majority;”
✅ In June, the coalition led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was voted out of office in a no-confidence vote;
✅ The previous coalition was built with a small party, Bridge (Most), which ”demanded a lot of power in this new coalition,” explains Judah.

“It’s going to be more of the same,” predicts Tim Judah, Balkans correspondent at the Economist, on the projected outcome of the Croatian snap election held on September 11th, 2016. “Neither side is going to win enough seats to have a clear majority,” he adds. The elections are the country's second in the space of one year, marking months of political deadlock as Croatia's coalition-style political format fails to reach a cohesive majority government that can implement actual policy.
In June, the coalition led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was voted out of office in a no-confidence vote. The party’s leader was replaced by Andrej Plenković, a former member of the European Parliament, who is “trying to pull his party back into the center” says Judah.

The previous coalition was built with a small party, Bridge (Most), which ”demanded a lot of power in this new coalition,” explains Judah. The Most party attempts to make a bridge between the left and right in Croatian politics, however many of its leaders do not have much in common with each other.

Hromadke and Kyiv Post’s Josh Kovensky spoke to Tim Judah, Balkans correspondent at the Economist via Skype in September 2016.