There is no more doubt: Croatia will have early elections.
By Friday afternoon, signatures of over 85 MPs demanding dissolution of Parliament have been received by the Office of the Speaker of Parliament. Since it takes only 76 votes for Parliament to be dissolved, it is clear that there is no more chance for HDZ to form a new ruling majority, reports Index.hr on June 17, 2016.
It is expected that the decision on dissolution of Parliament will be adopted on Monday. It will enter into force in mid-July so that early parliamentary elections could be held in early September.
President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović held consultations with leaders of parliamentary parties on Monday morning. After she met with all parliamentary groups, the President said that majority of MPs expressed their desire for new elections to be held. She called on Parliament Speaker Željko Reiner to put the motion for dissolution of Parliament to a vote as soon as possible.
“Almost all representatives of parliamentary parties have expressed their desire for the elections to be held in early September. I am going to take their opinion into account when setting the date for the elections”, said the President.
Interestingly, after his meeting with the President, HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko said that his party had a good candidate for the new Prime Minister-designate, and that they would try to form a new majority within the next eight days. “Elections are the worst solution for us because of time and costs, but we will accept them if they are inevitable”, said Karamarko.
Asked whether he would step down as HDZ president if new elections are called, Karamarko said that he would make the decision as a responsible person. Karamarko added that he would try until the last moment to form a new parliamentary majority and will not admit defeat at this moment. “If needed, we are ready for elections”, he said.
Asked what kind of tactics he had, considering that yesterday HDZ brought down its government, and now the majority of MPs demand the dissolution of Parliament, Karamarko replied that his tactics were good, but that not everybody respected previous agreements. “We will have some discussions in the next few days”, he added.
The leader of the opposition and SDP president Zoran Milanović told reporters that he met with Parliament Speaker Reiner and it was agreed that Parliament would meet at noon on Monday in order to dissolve itself. He added that the decision would take effect on 15 July.
He also said he did not know how to interpret Karamarko’s statement that he would continue discussions about a new majority. “I do not know how to interpret that statement, I hope it is a result of confusion”, he said.
