2015 Croatian parliamentary election

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Croatian parliamentary election, 2015

← 2011 8 November 2015 Next →

All 151 seats to Hrvatski sabor
76 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout60.82%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Tomislav Karamarko Zoran Milanović
Party HDZ SDP
Alliance Patriotic Coalition Croatia is Growing
Leader since 21 May 2012 2 June 2007
Last election 23.8%, 47 seats 40.0%, 81 seats
Seats before 44 73
Seats won
59 / 151
57 / 151
Seat change Increase 15 Decrease 16
Popular vote 771,070 744,507
Percentage 33,46% 32,31%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Božo Petrov Boris Miletić
Party Most IDS
Last election New party Kukuriku coalition
Seats before New party 2
Seats won
19 / 151
3 / 151
Seat change Increase 19 Increase 1
Popular vote 303,564 42,193
Percentage 13,17% 1,83%

Results of the election in each of the ten electoral districts of Croatia: the party with the plurality of votes in each electoral unit.
HDZ: blue; SDP: red

Prime Minister before election

Zoran Milanović
SDP

Subsequent Prime Minister

TBD

2003 election MPs
2007 election MPs
2011 election MPs
Next election

The 2015 Croatian parliamentary election was held on 8 November 2015.[1] All 151 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the 1990 first multi-party election and the first since Croatia joined the European Union in 2013.

The ruling center-left Croatia is Growing coalition, led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, was challenged by the center-right Patriotic Coalition led by the Croatian Democratic Union and headed by its party chairman Tomislav Karamarko, and also faced several new political coalitions.

Preliminary results indicate a hung parliament, with the ruling Croatia is Growing coalition winning 56 seats in the 10 electoral constituencies within Croatia and 2 of the 8 representatives of national minorities. The opposition Patriotic Coalition won 56 seats within Croatia and all three seats allocated to Croatian citizens living abroad, winning 59 seats, only one seat more than the ruling coalition. The IDS-PGS-RI coalition is expected to side with Croatia is Growing, as well as the remaining 5 minority representatives, giving Prime Minister Zoran Milanović's coalition 67 seats to 59 for Tomislav Karamarko's opposition coalition. The third-placed MOST led by Metković mayor Božo Petrov, which won 19 seats, is expected to be the deciding factor in the formation of the next government of Croatia. After the election Drago Prgomet of MOST stated that neither Zoran Milanović nor Tomislav Karamarko would be their choice for Prime Minister and that MOST will decide on who will head the 13th government of Croatia.[2] Some within MOST have stated they prefer the formation of a national unity government made up of HDZ, SDP and MOST, though this is considered extremely unlikely. [3] On 11 November Patriotic coalition leader Tomislav Karamarko openly rejected the prospect of an HDZ-SDP-MOST government.[4]

A total of 17 parties won representation in the 8th assembly of the Croatian Parliament: HDZ (51), SDP (42), MOST (19), HNS (9 + 2 national minority representatives), Labourists (3), IDS (3), HSP-AS (3), HSU (2), HSLS (2), Bandić Milan 365 (2), HDSSB (2), BUZ (1), HSS (1), Human Blockade (1), HRAST (1), HDS (1) and Reformists (1).[5]

Background

The 2011 general election was held on 4 December 2011 and resulted in the victory of the center-left Kukuriku coalition led by the Social Democratic Party and supported by the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, Croatian Party of Pensioners and the Istrian Democratic Assembly. The largest opposition party is the center-right Croatian Democratic Union. Other smaller opposition parties are the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party and the Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja.

The previous 7th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament was dissolved on 28 September 2015, with the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović subsequently being tasked with scheduling the elections on a Sunday within 60 days of the dissolution.[6]

Electoral system

Elections will be held in 10 electoral districts inside Croatia each with a roughly equal number of registered voters and 14 seats, supplemented by one electoral district for Croatian citizens living abroad (3 seats), and one electoral district for national minorities (8 seats). Parties or alliances have to pass a 5% threshold in an electoral district in order to get seats, which are then distributed proportionally between all lists passing the threshold using D'Hondt. Candidates are selected using the most open list system for candidates getting at least 10% of the party's votes. Candidates receiving less will be chosen according to their ranking on the list.

Electoral law amendments

In February 2015 the Croatian parliament voted to amend the country's election rules by introducing a number of changes, most importantly introducing an element of preferential voting by letting candidate selection function as a most open list system for candidates receiving a minimum of 10%, while keeping list ranking for those that do not meet this quota. In addition there were several other changes, including a gender quota and a ban on convicted criminals running. The proposal came from the ruling Social Democratic Party as well as several other minor changes. The opposition left Parliament and did not participate in the voting process.[7] However, on 25 September 2015 the Constitutional Court of Croatia ruled that most of the changes to the electoral law were unconstitutional, including a ban on convicted criminals running for office, an electoral list quota of 40% candidates of each gender and an obligation to collect 1,500 signatures for a political party to run in an electoral district. This left the new method of candidate selection as the only change.

Political parties

Name Abbr. Ideology Political spectrum Leader Seats 2011 Seats before election Electoral districts
Croatia is Growing coalition[8]
style="background-color: Template:Social Democratic Party of Croatia/meta/color" | Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske
SDP Social democracy[9] Centre-left Zoran Milanović 61 56[10] all but XI
style="background-color: Template:Croatian People's Party/meta/color" | Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats
Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati
HNS Liberalism, Economic liberalism, Progressivism [11][12] Centre left Vesna Pusić 14 11
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Labourists - Labour Party/meta/color" | Croatian Labourists - Labour Party
Hrvatski laburisti - stranka rada
Laburisti Labor rights Left-wing Nansi Tireli 6 2
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Party of Pensioners/meta/color" | Croatian Party of Pensioners
Hrvatska stranka umirovljenika
HSU Single-issue politics (pensioner's rights) Centre-left Silvano Hrelja 3 4
Authentic Croatian Peasant Party A-HSS Agrarianism Centre-right Stanko Grčić 0 0
Zagorje Party ZS Regionalism (Hrvatsko Zagorje) Centre Miljenko Jerneić 0 0
Patriotic Coalition[13][14]
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Democratic Union/meta/color" | Croatian Democratic Union
Hrvatska demokratska zajednica
HDZ Christian democracy, Social conservatism[15] Centre-right Tomislav Karamarko 44 42 all
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević/meta/color" | Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević
Hrvatska stranka prava dr. Ante Starčević
HSP AS National conservatism Right-wing Ivan Tepeš 1 1
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Peasant Party/meta/color" | Croatian Peasant Party
Hrvatska seljačka stranka
HSS Agrarianism, Christian democracy, Social conservatism Centre-right Branko Hrg 1 1
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Social Liberal Party/meta/color" | Croatian Social Liberal Party
Hrvatska socijalno liberalna stranka
HSLS Social liberalism Centre Darinko Kosor 0 0
Bloc Pensioners Together BUZ Single-issue politics (Pensioners' rights) Milivoj Špika 0 0
Croatian Growth Hrast Social conservatism Ladislav Ilčić Did not exist 0
Croatian Demochristian Party HDS Christian democracy Goran Dodig 0 0
Democratic Party of Zagorje ZDS Regionalism (Hrvatsko Zagorje) Stanko Belina 0 0
"Our Own Right" coalition
style="background-color: Template:Istrian Democratic Assembly/meta/color" | Istrian Democratic Assembly
Istarski demokratski sabor
IDS Istrian regionalism, social liberalism Centre-left Boris Miletić 3 2 VIII
style="background-color: Template:Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar/meta/color" | Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar
Primorsko goranski savez
PGS Regionalism (Primorje-Gorski Kotar) Darijo Vasilić 0 0
List for Rijeka
Lista za Rijeku
RI Regionalism (Rijeka) 0 0
Successful Croatia coalition
style="background-color: Template:People's Party - Reformists/meta/color"| People's Party - Reformists
Narodna stranka - Reformisti
Reformisti Economic liberalism[16] Centre Radimir Čačić Did not exist 3 all
style="background-color: Template:Forward Croatia-Progressive Alliance/meta/color"| Forward Croatia! - Progressive Alliance
Naprijed Hrvatska! - Progresivni savez
Naprijed Hrvatska! Progressivism, Social democracy Centre-left Ivo Josipović Did not exist 1
Party of Croatian Pensioners, Green Forum, Dubrovnik Democratic Assembly Umirovljenici, ZF, DDS 0 0
Labour and Solidarity Coalition
Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and Solidarity
Milan Bandić 365 - stranka rada i solidarnosti
Bandić 365 Populism Centre Milan Bandić Did not exist 0 all
Istrian democrats
Istarski demokrati
ID-DI Regionalism Centre-left Damir Kajin Did not exist 1 [17]
New wave- Party of Development
Novi val-Stranka razvoja
Novi val Social Democratic Centre-left Ljubo Jurčić Did not exist 1 [18]
Democratic Party of Prigorje and Zagreb, Democratic Women's Party, European Party of Croatia, Croatian Workers' Party, Croatian Party of Greens – Eco-Alliance, Međimurje Party, Independent Croatian Farmers, Pensioners' Party, Pensioners' Democratic Union, Green Alliance, Green Party DPS, DSŽ, HES, HRS, Zeleni, MS, SU, UDU, Zeleni, ZS 0 0
Coalition "Ready"
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Conservative Party/meta/color"| Croatian Conservative Party
Hrvatska konzervativna stranka
HKS National conservatism, Economic liberalism Right-wing Ruža Tomašić Did not exist 0 all
Croatian Party of Rights
Hrvatska stranka prava
HSP National conservatism, Croatian nationalism, Euroscepticism Right-wing Daniel Srb 0 0
Family Party
Obiteljska stranka
OS Social conservatism Right-wing Mate Knezović 0 0
Not part of any coalition
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja/meta/color" | Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja
Hrvatski demokratski savez Slavonije i Baranje
HDSSB Slavonian regionalism, Conservativism Right-wing Dragan Vulin 6 7 IV, V
style="background-color: Template:Croatian Citizen Party/meta/color" | Croatian Citizen Party
Hrvatska građanska stranka
HGS Right-wing populism Centre-right Željko Kerum 2 2 IX, X
style="background-color: Template:Sustainable Development of Croatia/meta/color" | Sustainable Development of Croatia
Održivi razvoj Hrvatske
ORaH Sustainable development, Environmentalism, Progressivism Centre-left Mirela Holy Did not exist 3 all
style="background-color: Template:Bridge of Independent Lists/meta/color"| Bridge of Independent Lists
Most nezavisnih lista
Most Fiscal conservatism, Economic liberalism Centre-right Božo Petrov Did not exist 0 all
style="background-color: Template:Human Blockade/meta/color" | Human Blockade
Živi zid
Živi zid Populism, Anti-establishment, Euroscepticism Centre Five Co-Presidents Did not exist 0 all but XI (joint list with AM in IX)
Youth Action
Akcija mladih
AM 0 0 all but XI (joint list with Živi zid in IX)
In the Name of the Family – Project Homeland
U Ime Obitelji – projekt Domovina
UiO-projekt Domovina Social conservatism, Political Catholicism Right-wing Željka Markić Did not exist 0 all
Authentic Croatian Party of Rights
Autohtona – Hrvatska stranka prava
A-HSP 0 0 all
Croatian Christian Democratic Union, Croatian Democratic Party, National Democrats HKDU, HDS, ND 0 0 I, III, V–VII, IX–XI
Croatian Dawn – Party of the People
Hrvatska Zora Stranka Naroda
HZ Social conservatism, Christian democracy Right-wing Milan Kujundžić Did not exist 0 I, II, VI, VII, IX, X
Socialist Labour Party of Croatia
Socijalistička radnička partija
SRP Communism Far-left Vladimir Kapularin 0 0 II, III, VIII, X, XI
For the City
Za Grad
Za Grad Did not exist 0 I, II, VI, VII
Defenders' Patriotic Party of Croatia
Braniteljsko Domoljubna Stranka Hrvatske
BDSH 0 0 I, III, IV, VII
Workers' Front
Radnička fronta
RF Democratic socialism Far-left collective leadership Did not exist 0 I, VI, VIII
Smart
Pametno
Pametno Economic liberalism Centre Marijana Puljak Did not exist 0 I, VII, X
Together Movement
Pokret Zajedno
Pokret Zajedno Did not exist 0 I, VII, VIII
Croatian Party of Order
Hrvatska stranka reda
HSR Did not exist 0 II
Međimurje Democratic Alliance
Međimurske demokratski savez
MDS Did not exist 0 III
Democratic Union of National Renewal – Right
Demokratski Savez Nacionalne Obnove – Desno
Desno National conservatism, Croatian nationalism Far-right Anto Đapić Did not exist 0 IV

Opinion polls

 
15-day average trend line of poll results from December 2011 to the present day, with each line corresponding to a political party.

Results

On November 9, 2015 State Election Commission published only the provisional official results from the 99.9% of regular polling stations because elections will be repeated in 7 polling stations because of some irregularities.

None of the parties managed to get majority of 76 seats needed for a parliamentary majority so two major coalitions will start coalition talks in the next days.

Centre-right Patriotic Coalition won 59[19] seats, centre-left Croatia is Growing coalition 58 (2 national minority representatives side with the Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats), centre Bridge of Independent Lists 19, centre-left Istrian Democratic Assembly 3, right wing Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja and centre Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and Solidarity 2 each, centre Human Blockade and centre People's Party - Reformists 1 each. As for the 8 mandates of minority representatives, 3 go to Croatia is Growing because those representatives are members of HNS party or its parliamentary club, while Independent Democratic Serb Party that won 3 seats confirmed that it would negotiate with Croatia is Growing. In addition, Istrian Democratic Assembly also confirmed that it would negotiate only with Croatia is Growing.

National minorities elected 8 representatives through a separate election system: Milorad Pupovac (75,9% of votes), Mile Horvat (59,2%) and Mirko Rašković (54,4%) for the Serb national minority, Sándor Juhász (50,2%) for the Hungarian minority, Furio Radin (65,8%) for the Italian minority, Vladimir Bilek (75,7%) for the Czech and Slovak minorities, Veljko Kajtazi (41,4%) for the Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Jewish, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Rusyn, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vlach minorities and Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj (21,1%) for the Albanian, Bosniak, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Slovene minorities.

Summary Template:Croatian parliamentary election, 2015

Popular vote
Patriotic Coalition
34.0%
Croatia is Growing
33.8%
Most
13.8%
Human Blockade
4.3%
Bandić 365
3.4%
IDS & allies
1.9%
ORaH
1.8%
Successful Croatia
1.6%
HDSSB
1.4%
In the Name of the Family
1.1%
Others
3.0%
Seat totals
Patriotic Coalition
39.1%
Croatia is Growing
37.1%
Most
12.6%
IDS & allies
2.0%
Bandić 365
1.3%
HDSSB
1.3%
Human Blockade
0.7%
Successful Croatia
0.7%
Minorities
5.3%
File:Croatian Parliamentary Election 2015, votes in the 21 zupanjas.png
Votes
File:Croatian Parliamentary Election 2015, percentages in the 21 zupanjas.png
Percentages

Distribution of seats by electoral districts

Party / District I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII
Patriotic Coalition 4 6 4 6 8 5 5 3 8 7 3  —
Croatia is Growing 7 5 8 5 4 6 6 7 4 4  —  —
Most 3 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 3 0
IDS+PGS+RI  —  —  —  —  —  —  — 3  —  —  —
Bandić 365 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  —
HDSSB  —  —  — 2 0  —  —  —  —  —  —
Human Blockade 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  —  —
Successful Croatia 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  —
Ethnic minorities  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  — 8

Government formation

According to preliminary results (99,90% of the votes) the ruling Croatia is Growing coalition won 56 seats, amounting to 59 due to the coalition with IDS.[20] The opposition Patriotic Coalition won 59 seats. The third-largest party in Parliament is MOST (Croatian for bridge) led by Božo Petrov which won 19 seats and it is considered necessary for either the ruling Croatia is Growing coalition or the opposition Patriotic coalition to gain the support of MOST in order to gain a majority of 76 seats needed to form a government. MOST has stated that it will not enter into coalition with either of the two largest blocs and that it will instead present its own candidate for Prime Minister.[21] On 12 November MOST member Drago Prgomet was expelled from the party for holding private talks with Prime Minister Zoran Milanović without the knowledge of other members of the party's leadership.[22] There are four possible outcomes, the first is that HDZ forms a coalition with MOST, which is unlikely due to the animosity between Petrov and Karamarko, the second is that SDP forms a coalition with MOST, which is also not likely, the third is forming of a coalition of HDZ and SDP, two main opposing parties, which is least likely, and the fourth is repeating the elections in January 2016.[23] Most Croatian media are reporting that Prime Minister Zoran Milanović is closer to gaining the 76 seats needed for a majority in Parliament than Tomislav Karamarko, the former having reportedly gained the support of IDS and the 8 MPs elected by national minorities. It is also reported that Milan Bandić, whose party won 2 seats, as well as Radimir Čačić of Forward Croatia! - Progressive Alliance are also more likely to support Milanović. The regional party HDSSB is considered very unlikely to support a Patriotic Coalition government, but they might support Croatia is Growing through a minority government.[24]

References

  1. ^ http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/kolinda-objavila-na-izbore-izlazimo-8-studenog/846227.aspx
  2. ^ "Drago Prgomet: Mi ćemo predložiti svog mandatara, to neće biti ni Milanović ni Karamarko". 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  3. ^ "Razmišljamo o Vladi HDZ-Most-SDP". 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  4. ^ "Karamarko odbio Petrova: Ne želima sjediti s ljudima koji su uništili Hrvatsku-Vlada će biti stručna i ekspertna tek kad ja postanem mandatar". 2015-11-11. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  5. ^ "Ekskluzivna infografika: Ovo su ljudi koji su izabrani u novi saziv Sabora, u parlament ušli predstavnici 17 stranaka". 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  6. ^ "Predsjednica idući tjedan objavljuje datum izbora". www.vecernji.hr. 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  7. ^ "Croatian parliament backs changes to electoral law". europeanvoice.com. 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  8. ^ "Zbogom 'Kukuriku', rođena je nova koalicija - Hrvatska raste". www.dnevnik.hr. 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
  9. ^ http://www.sdp.hr/media/303876/statut-sdp.pdf
  10. ^ http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=4577
  11. ^ http://hns.hr/index.php/dokumenti/2012-04-20-01-45-30/programske-smjernice
  12. ^ http://hns.hr/index.php/dokumenti/2012-04-20-01-45-30/statut
  13. ^ "Domoljubna koalicija". Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  14. ^ "Domoljubna koalicija u Vukovaru potpisala koalicijski sporazum". www.dnevnik.hr. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
  15. ^ http://hdz.hr/static/media/attached_files/attachedfileitem/Statut/STATUT_HDZ-a_2012.pdf
  16. ^ http://reformisti.hr/dokumenti/program
  17. ^ http://www.sabor.hr/istarski-demokrati
  18. ^ http://www.sabor.hr/novi-val-stranka-razvoja
  19. ^ 56 + 3 from District XI
  20. ^ http://www.jutarnji.hr/ni-karamarko-ni-milanovic-ne-mogu-bez-mosta-kome-ce-se-oni-prikloniti-mogli-bismo-znati-vec-danas/1454429/
  21. ^ "DRAGO PRGOMET POSLAO PORUKU HDZ-u i SDP-u: Novog mandatara predložit će MOST, a to neće biti ni Tomislav Karamarko ni Zoran Milanović". 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  22. ^ "Veliki potres u Mostu: Drago Prgomet nakon što je izletio iz stranke: Što ću sa svojim mandatom- to pitajte 22 000 građana koji su glasali za mene". 2015-11-12. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  23. ^ http://www.jutarnji.hr/cetiri-scenarija-za-sastav-nove-vlade-ako-most-odbije-sve--u-sijecnju-novi-izbori-ili-velika-koalicija/1454246/
  24. ^ . 2015-11-15 http://www.jutarnji.hr/milanovic-blize-sastavljanju-vlade--sdp-tvrdi-da-su-dobili-bandica-i-tehnicku-potporu-hdssb-a/1457957/. Retrieved 2015-11-15. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)