The decision will come into effect on 15 July.
After the motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković was adopted on Thursday, which brought down the whole government, Parliament on Monday adopted a decision of its dissolution, which opens the way for the early parliamentary elections to be called probably in early September.
Since HDZ in the last few days did not manage to find a new parliamentary majority which would support its candidate for Prime Minister-designate, current Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, and after on Friday the majority of MPs signed a petition for the dissolution of Parliament, it became obvious that early elections are the only possible way out of the current political stalemate.
At noon on Monday, Parliament Speaker Željko Reiner changed the parliamentary agenda and included the motion for the dissolution of Parliament. After a short debate, MPs voted on the motion which received 137 votes “in favour”, 2 votes “against”, and 1 abstention.
The decision will come into effect on 15 July. At that time, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will call early parliamentary elections, which have to take place within 30 and 60 days. It is widely expected that the elections will be called for either first or second Sunday in September.
This will end the six-month-long political crisis which began in January when the new coalition government was formed. The political differences between members of the coalition, particularly between HDZ and MOST, were too wide to be bridged, so it was obvious for a while that new elections will probably have to be called.
The trigger for the culmination of the crisis was the case of then First Deputy Prime Minister and HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko who was found to be in a conflict of interest due to businesses connections between his wife and a consultant to the Hungarian oil company MOL, which is partial owner of Croatia’s oil company INA. MOST demanded that Karamarko must resign from the government, which he refused to do without submitting a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković, which was adopted on Thursday.
According to the polls, after the new elections no party will be able to form a government on its own, so it is likely that another coalition will have to be formed. After the failed attempt at forming a new governing coalition, HDZ president Karamarko is under great pressure to resign from his post. It is expected that HDZ will have a new president elected before the elections.
