Nearly a year of political deadlock has blocked reforms that Croatia, which joined the European Union in 2013, badly needs.
Advertisement
A Serbian court has also rehabilitated an infamous ultra-nationalist from the second World War period, and the country’s current prime minister and president were allies of warmongering leader Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s.
Preliminary results in Croatia show the ruling conservative party is leading parliamentary elections, but it has fallen short of receiving enough seats to form a government.
That has anxious commentators who predict long coalition talks and a weak government.
The MOST party, which was the third victor in last election held in November 2015, would get 12 seats and a small party Living Wall could make a new surprise with seven seats, six more than last time, the polls added.
Andrej Plenkovic, front left, leader of center-right HDZ party celebrates elections results at the party’s headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia, early Monday, Sept. 12, 2016.
Around 3.8 million Croatian voters headed for the polls on Sunday in the second election in less than a year.
“The following months and years are truly decisive for Croatia, and today we have to be serious”, Grabar Kitarovic said.
However, officials of the party were cautious and warned that the initial results may be unrepresentative of the total votes as the results would be skewed towards rural districts that are their stronghold.
“Croatia needs a stable government, for the past months we had an unstable and destructive (one)”, he added. “We can’t complain later if the outcome of the election is not the way we want it to be”.
However, analysts warn that tough talks to form a government could be ahead because the HDZ has not secured an absolute majority in the 151-seat parliament.
“The votes are still being counted”, Milanovic said. “The rest is up to the people”.
According to the BBC, a weak governmental coalition is not likely to be successful in implementing reforms required by the European Union, especially with regards to the country’s economy, which is overly dependent on tourism along the Adriatic coast.
After suffering prolonged recession before and after joining the European Union in 2013, Croatia is now showing signs of a return to modest growth, but much of the economy remains moribund and unemployment is stuck at about 14 per cent.
Unemployment stands at more than 13 percent, public debt has reached 85 percent of GDP, while the investment climate remains poor.
Kristijan Naher, a voter from Zagreb said he hopes Croatians “will be smarter now” and vote conclusively to “avoid the agony” that followed the last election.
“This is not a new trend, the right-wingers winning”, said Ljerka Kavoci, a Zagreb resident.
Advertisement
“I think we have succeeded in introducing a new culture of communication and dialogue in this campaign, bringing the content back to politics, basing the campaign on the program”.
