Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 11 September 2016, with all 151 seats in the Croatian Parliament up for election. The elections were preceded by a successful motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković and his cabinet on 16 June 2016, with 125 MPs voting in favour of the proposal. A subsequent attempt by the Patriotic Coalition to form a new parliamentary majority, with Minister of Finance Zdravko Marić as Prime Minister, failed and the Parliament voted to dissolve itself on 20 June 2016. The dissolution took effect on 15 July 2016, which made it possible for President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to officially call for elections on 11 September 2016. These were the ninth parliamentary elections since the 1990 multi-party elections.
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, on the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the southeast, sharing a maritime border with Italy. Its capital, Zagreb, forms one of the country's primary subdivisions, along with twenty counties. Croatia has an area of 56,594 square kilometres and a population of 4.28 million, most of whom are Roman Catholics.
The Croatian Parliament or the Sabor is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia; it is Croatia's legislature. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor is composed of 151 members elected to a four-year term on the basis of direct, universal and equal suffrage by secret ballot. Seats are allocated according to the Croatian Parliament electoral districts: 140 members of the parliament are elected in multi-seat constituencies, 8 from the minorities and 3 from the Croatian diaspora. The Sabor is presided over by a Speaker, who is assisted by at least one deputy speaker.
Tihomir "Tim" Orešković is a Croatian Canadian businessman who was the Prime Minister of Croatia from 22 January 2016 to 19 October 2016.
The elections were contested by the two largest parties in the outgoing eighth Parliament; the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), led by Andrej Plenković, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by Zoran Milanović. The SDP contested the election as part of the People's Coalition, consisting of the SDP, HNS, HSS and HSU. They were also challenged by a number of other parties and coalitions, including the Bridge of Independent Lists (Most), which held the balance of power after the 2015 elections. The incumbent Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković, a non-partisantechnocrat, announced that he would not be running on any party's candidate list and would not seek reelection.
The Croatian Democratic Union is a conservative political party and the main centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croatia, along with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). It is currently the largest party in the Sabor with 55 seats. The HDZ ruled Croatia from 1990 after the country gained independence from Yugoslavia until 2000 and, in coalition with junior partners, from 2003 to 2011, and since 2016. The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). HDZ's leader, Andrej Plenković, is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office following the 2016 Parliamentary Election.
Andrej Plenković is a Croatian politician and diplomat serving as Prime Minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016. He has been the Chairman of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) since 2016. Previously he was one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013 until his resignation as MEP when he took office as Prime Minister.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia is a social-democratic political party and the largest party of the Croatian centre-left. The SDP is one of the two major political parties in Croatia, along with the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
The election resulted in a victory of HDZ with 61 seats in the parliament, while the People's Coalition won 54 seats. Andrej Plenković started talks about forming a governing majority with Most, which won 13 seats. Zoran Milanović announced his withdrawal from politics after the defeat. A few weeks after the election HDZ and Most concluded talks on forming a government, which would also include the 8 Members of Parliament representing national minorities. On 10 October 2016 Plenković formally presented 91 signatures of support by MPs to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, therefore far more than the necessary majority of 76 signatures and he was thus made Prime Minister-designate with a 30-day mandate to form a government until 9 November 2016. The 9th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament was constituted on 14 October with the election of Most leader Božo Petrov as Speaker. On 19 October a parliamentary vote of 91 in favor, 45 against and 3 abstentions formally confirmed Croatia's 14th government cabinet since the first multi-party elections in 1990, with Andrej Plenković as Croatia's 12th Prime Minister. The new cabinet consisted of 20 ministers, including Goran Marić, a minister without portfolio who was on later tasked with leading the newly formed Ministry of State Property.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is a Croatian politician and diplomat serving as the 4th and current President of Croatia since 2015. She is the first woman to be elected to the office since the first multi-party elections in 1990. At 46 years of age, she also became the youngest person to assume the presidency.
The Speaker of the Croatian Parliament is the presiding officer in the Croatian Parliament (Sabor), Croatia's legislative body.
The Fourteenth Government of the Republic of Croatia is the Croatian Government cabinet currently being led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It was formed on 19 October 2016, following the 2016 election.
Background
Following the 2015 elections a government was formed by independent businessman Tihomir Orešković who was supported by the conservative Patriotic Coalition, led by Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and Bridge of Independent Lists (MOST). However, HDZ put forward a motion of no confidence on 16 June, with 125 of 151 MPs voting in favor of the motion.[2] The HDZ sought to form a new government with Minister of Finance Zdravko Marić as Prime Minister, however it was clear that he would not get support of 76 MPs.[2] On 20 June MPs voted to dissolve parliament effective on 15 July, resulting in snap elections being called by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who called for elections on 11 September.[3]
The Patriotic Coalition was a political alliance in Croatia formed in 2015. The parties signed the coalition agreement on 21 September 2015. On 2015 parliamentary election, coalition won a relative majority in 5 of the 10 constituencies in Croatia, and all 3 seats reserved for the Croatian diaspora, and thus received a total of 59 of the 151 parliamentary seats, with its main competitor center-left Croatia is Growing coalition also winning a relative majority in 5 of the 10 constituencies in Croatia, and 56 of the 151 parliamentary seats. After more than 40 days of negotiations with the Bridge of Independent Lists (MOST) and numerous twists and turns mainly due to MOST frequently changing terms, coalition achieved agreement with MOST and Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and Solidarity on forming new government with Prime Minister being independent Tihomir Orešković.
The Bridge of Independent Lists is a political party in Croatia founded in 2012. The party is led by Božo Petrov, its founder and the former Mayor of Metković and Speaker of the Croatian Parliament from 14 October 2016 to 5 May 2017.
Electoral system
The 151 members of the Croatian Parliament are elected by three methods; 140 are elected in ten 14-seat constituencies by open listproportional representation using a 5% electoral threshold, with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method; 3 are elected in a special constituency for Croatian citizens and people of Croatian descent living overseas; and 8 are elected from a constituency for ethnic national minority groups:[4] 3 for Serbs, 1 for Italians, 1 for Hungarians, 1 for Czechs and Slovaks, 1 for Albanians, Bosniaks, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Slovenes, and 1 for Austrians, Bulgarians, Germans, Jews, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Rusyns, Russians, Turks, Ukrainians and Vlachs.
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, party officials, or consultants to determine the order of its candidates and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list. Additionally, an open list system allows voters to select individuals rather than parties. Different systems give voter different amounts of influence. Voter's choice is usually called preference vote.
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.
Campaigning for the early parliamentary elections officially began on 16 August 2016 and ended at stroke of midnight between 9 and 10 September 2016. An election silence officially commenced at that time and lasted until 19:00 local time on election day (11 September) when voting officially ended. All electoral activity, such as distributing or exhibiting promotional materials near polling stations or encouraging voters to vote for a certain political party, coalition or candidate is prohibited during the duration of the election silence and is punishable by law.[11]
Election silence, pre-election silence, electoral silence, or campaign silence is a ban on political campaigning prior to a presidential or general election. Under this rule, in some jurisdictions, such as Slovenia, it is forbidden to try to convince people to vote for a specific candidate or political party on the day of election. Some jurisdictions have declared that, legally, election silence is in violation of law regarding freedom of speech. It is however used in some of the world's democracies "in order to balance out the campaigning and maintain a free voting environment".
On 12 August a television debate hosted by Croatian Radio Television (HRT) featured SDP and People's Coalition chairman Zoran Milanović and HDZ chairman Andrej Plenković. According to a poll taken by daily newspaper Jutarnji List of 36.700 of its readers, 58% of those taking part answered that Milanović had been the more convincing of the two candidates and had won the debate, while 42% said the same of Plenković. However, some 87% of the 6.000 readers taking part also stated that the television debate had not greatly altered their political views. Readers were also asked to assign a grade (on a scale of 1 to 5) to each of the candidates, with 9.000 people taking part and giving Plenković an average grade of 3,36, while Milanović received an average grade of 3,23.[12]
Issues
The main issues in the electoral campaign included fostering economic growth achieved after a six-year recession (2008-2015) and both major parties, the SDP (in government 2011-2016) and HDZ (in government from January 2016) claimed that economic recovery was begun during their period of government and that it was the result of their policies. Other issues included the halted education reform initiative,[13] which was due to be tested in selected Croatian schools in late 2016 and the debate over ending political polarization caused by differing views on Croatia's role in the Second World War and the resurgence of extreme far-right ideologies in Croatian society. Numerous parties competing in the election called for an end to divisions caused by a continuing debate about the roles of the Ustaša and Communist regimes in Croatian history and questions relating to whether both regimes should be considered to have been authoritarian and to have committed certain war crimes on ethnic or ideological grounds.[14]
Furthermore, an important issue of the campaign was how to regulate Croatia's relations with Serbia. Some of the most important aspects of this debate included the controversial criminal law adopted by Serbia, by which it unilaterally declares itself to have criminal jurisdiction over all war crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Under this law Serbia has issued a large number of arrest warrants for numerous Croatian veterans of the Croatian War of Independence, including numerous prominent political leaders and army commanders. Another issue which was also discussed was whether to use the blocking of Serbia's accession negotiations with the European Union to put pressure on the Serbian government to repeal the controversial law.[13]
Less prominent issues in the campaign included the negative demographic trends in Croatia, mostly relating to a large number of Croatian citizens migrating to other countries to seek employment (among them many young highly educated citizens), diminishing birth rates, the depopulation of certain parts of the country due to poor economic and social conditions, as well as the growing median age of the population.[15]
The elections yielded a surprise victory for the conservative HDZ, though most opinion polls had predicted the People's coalition would have the largest share of seats in Parliament.[16] The People's Coalition's unexpected defeat was, among other things, attributed to the release of a confidential audio recording of former Prime Minister and coalition chairman Zoran Milanović speaking at a private meeting with Croatian war veterans. In the recording Milanović used numerous derogatory terms, calling Serbs ʽʽpitifulˮ and stating that ʽʽBosnia and Herzegovina is not a countryˮ and it is thought that these statements undermined support for the People's Coalition among minority voters.[17] The HDZ, which had trailed the People's coalition in opinion polls for over two months prior to the election and was thought to be facing certain defeat, managed under its new leader, MEPAndrej Plenković to shed the image of being a corruption-engulfed right-wing party for a more Europe-oriented centrist one.[17] Low turnout is also thought to have contributed to the unexpectedly large number of seats won by the HDZ, as their voters and supporters were expected to have a high turnout rate on election day. After the election Milanović announced that he would not stand for reelection as party chairman of the SDP in the upcoming leadership election.[18] Following the conservatives' victory, the stock market reacted generally favourably to the election results.[19]
It is considered likely that the next governing majority will be formed by a coalition of the HDZ and the centre-right Most party, which once again gained the role of kingmaker. However such a coalition would also need the support of additional parties to command a majority of seats, which is also a prerequisite for naming a Prime Minister-designate, who is given a 30-day mandate to form a government by the President. In the event of a HDZ-Most coalition government, Andrej Plenković as chairman of the HDZ is thought to be the most likely candidate to become the 12th Prime Minister of Croatia.[17]
National minorities elected 8 representatives through a separate election system: Milorad Pupovac (84,55% of votes), Mile Horvat (63,68%) and Boris Milošević (60,04%) for the Serb national minority, Róbert Jankovics (53,02%) for the Hungarian minority, Furio Radin (72,65%) for the Italian minority, Vladimir Bilek (84,43%) for the Czech and Slovak minorities, Veljko Kajtazi (53,16%) for the Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Jewish, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Rusyn, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vlach minorities and Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj (25,31%) for the Albanian, Bosniak, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Slovene minorities. Six of the eight representatives of national minorities from the 8th Assembly of Parliament were reelected, while Šandor Juhas (Hungarian minority) lost his bid for reelection and Mirko Rašković (Serb minority) did not run for another term.
Three Members of Parliament were elected by Croatian citizens living abroad in an overseas constituency. Traditionally, the HDZ is heavily favored to win all three seats, however in this election Željko Glasnović, who ran his own independent party list, won one seat in Parliament.
Following the announcement of election results late on 11 September 2016 it was thought that there could be a repeat of the long-lasting and somewhat tumultuous talks that followed the previous election. Namely, as yet again no party or coalition had gained an absolute majority of 76 seats, coalition talks would be required between the two larger parties (HDZ and the People's Coalition) and the numerous smaller parties to form such a majority. However, the opposition SDP-led People's Coalition conceded defeat after winning only 54 seats in Parliament. Its leader, former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, ruled out running for reelection to his party's chairmanship, effectively also ruling out any possible attempts to form a governing majority, thus allowing the HDZ to begin talks with the Bridge of Independent Lists (Most), its junior partner in the outgoing government led by the non-partisan Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. Most set out seven conditions for entering into a government with any party and Plenković began discussions lasting several weeks with Most representatives. Plenković also held talks with the 8 representatives of national minorities, as HDZ and Most would not have a majority without their support. Over the next few weeks several other parties, including the HSS proceeded to give their support to a government led by Plenković. However, it is widely viewed that HSS chairman Krešo Beljak agreed to give Plenković the support of his party's 5 MPs and "100 days of peace before turning into the sharpest opposition" in order to calm tensions resulting from a dispute between him and HSS MEPMarijana Petir, who had called for HSS to enter the center-right government to be formed by HDZ and Most instead of remaining a part of the People's Coalition as an opposition party. The dispute escalated and Beljak proceeded to suspend over 100 members of the party, including Petir. Plenković further received the support of the Milan Bandić 365 party, one out of two HSU MPs and one former member of Human Blockade. He formally received 91 signatures of support from MPs on 10 October 2016, far more than the necessary 76, and presented them to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who named him Prime Minister-designate and gave him 30 days time until 9 November to form a government. On 14 October Parliament constituted its 9th Assembly since 1990 by electing Most leader Božo Petrov as the 11th Speaker of Parliament. On 19 October Andrej Plenković was confirmed as the 12th Prime Minister of Croatia along with his cabinet of 20 ministers by a vote of 91 in favor, 45 against and 3 abstentions among 151 Members of Parliament. His government received the support of MPs belonging to the HDZ-HSLS-HDS coalition, Bridge of Independent Lists, Milan Bandić 365, HSS, HDSSB, SDSS and 5 representatives of other national minorities.
The politics of Croatia are defined by a parliamentary, representative democratic republic framework, where the Prime Minister of Croatia is the head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Government and the President of Croatia. Legislative power is vested in the Croatian Parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The parliament adopted the current Constitution of Croatia on 22 December 1990 and decided to declare independence from Yugoslavia on 25 May 1991. The Constitutional Decision on the Sovereignty and Independence of the Republic of Croatia came into effect on 8 October 1991. The constitution has since been amended several times. The first modern parties in the country developed in the middle of the 19th century, and their agenda and appeal changed, reflecting major social changes, such as the breakup of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, dictatorship and social upheavals in the kingdom, World War II, the establishment of Communist rule and the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia.
Regular elections in Croatia are mandated by the Constitution and legislation enacted by Parliament. The presidency, Parliament, county prefects and assemblies, city and town mayors, and city and municipal councils are all elective offices. Since 1990, five presidential elections have been held. During the same period, nine parliamentary elections were also held. In addition, there were six nationwide local elections. Croatia has held two elections to elect 11 members of the European Parliament following its accession to the EU on 1 July 2013.
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 25 November 2007 and for overseas voters on 24 and 25 November. The campaign officially started on 3 November. The President of Croatia announced elections on 17 October and 14 days were allowed for candidate lists to be submitted.
Zoran Milanović is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from December 2011 to January 2016. He was the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), the largest centre-left political party in Croatia, from 2007 until November 2016. As such, apart from serving as Prime Minister, he was also the Leader of the Opposition on two separate occasions, from 2007 to 2011 and from January to November 2016, when Davor Bernardić succeeded him as SDP chairman.
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on Sunday, 4 December 2011 to elect 151 members to the Croatian Parliament. They were the sixth parliamentary election in Croatia since independence.
Tomislav Karamarko is a Croatian politician who served as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from January until June 2016. He served in the Cabinet of Jadranka Kosor as Minister of Interior from 2008 to 2011.
The People's Coalition was a centre-left political alliance in Croatia.
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 8 November 2015. All 151 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the first multi-party election in 1990 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 HDZ and headed by its party chairman Tomislav Karamarko, and also faced several new political coalitions.
The next elections for the President of Croatia are due to take place by direct popular vote on a date between 21 December 2019 and 20 January 2020, with a second round to take place on a date between 4 January 2020 and 3 February 2020 between the two candidates with the largest number of votes in the first round. Namely, the Constitution of Croatia states that a presidential election must be held no more than 60 days and no less than 30 days before the expiration of the incumbent president's term. They will be the seventh presidential elections since the first direct ones were held in 1992.
Božo Petrov is a Croatian politician and psychiatrist who served as the 11th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament since independence, and the 21st Speaker overall, from 14 October 2016 until 4 May 2017. Petrov previously served as the Mayor of Metković and a Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković from 22 January 2016 until his election as Speaker in October 2016. Since 2012 he is the president of the Bridge of Independent Lists party. Petrov resigned his position as Speaker on 4 May 2017, amidst a government and parliamentary crisis. Having held the office for a little over six months Petrov is to date the shortest serving Speaker of Parliament since 1991.
The next Croatian parliamentary elections will be held on or before 23 December 2020. It will be the tenth parliamentary election since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and will elect the 151 members of the Croatian Parliament unless there is a change in the electoral system or number of seats before the date of the election.
The following lists events that happened in 2016 in Croatia.
The Thirteenth Government of the Republic of Croatia was the Croatian Government cabinet led by Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. It was the government cabinet of Croatia between 22 January until 19 October 2016. It was formed following the 2015 election. The negotiation process leading to its formation was the longest in Croatian history, totaling at a record 76 days. On 16 June 2016, Orešković's government lost a motion of no confidence in the Parliament with 125 MPs voting for, 15 against and 2 abstaining. As a result, the Orešković cabinet served in an acting capacity until a new government took office after the 2016 election.
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