More than a week after Croatia voted in the parliamentary election, the final results are in, as parties negotiate to form a coalition.
Šandor Juhas and Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj will represent Hungarian and Albanian, Bosniak, Montenegrin, Macedonian and Slovenian national minorities in the Croatian Parliament, according to the results of parliamentary elections which were repeated yesterday at seven polling stations, reports Vecernji List and Jutarnji List on November 16, 2016.
Both Lekaj Prljaskaj and Juhas won by small margins, with only a few more votes than their opponents. Lekaj Prljaskaj won 999 votes, just five more than her main rival Idris Sulejmani who got 994 votes. Juhas received 2,218 votes, and his rival Robert Jankovics 2,198, with the difference of just 20 votes.
Due to the surplus of ballots in the ballot boxes last Sunday, 8 November, elections were repeated at seven polling stations in Osijek, Pakrac, Slunj, Zadar and Šibenik. The State Election Commission has announced that now all 6,687 polling stations have been processed, and that the turnout was 60.8 percent. The greatest number of seats in parliament has been won by HDZ and its Patriotic Coalition, but they are well below 76 seats needed to form a new government. SDP and its Croatia Is Growing coalition have 56 seats, while the surprise of the elections is MOST with 19 seats.
New members of parliament from MOST met on Saturday and Sunday near Plitvice where they discussed the forthcoming negotiations with HDZ and SDP. They said that this week they will propose a series of reforms to other parties. Ivan Kovačić, mayor of Omiš, announced that the public will be informed about their proposed reform measures. Kovačić added that on Sunday they discussed the issues of entrepreneurship and the economy, which was followed by the discussion about administration system and regional and local self-government and judicial reforms. Kovačić said media speculation that “MOST is breaking apart” are completely unfounded, because all the members of parliament from MOST came to Plitvice, with the exception of one member who was justifiably absent.
Meanwhile, SDP claims it is getting closer to forming the next government, according to close associates of Prime Minister Zoran Milanović. They say that SDP has received support from Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić (2 seats), while HDSSB (2 seats) will also support SDP’s coalition. Sources close to Bandić claim that he has talked with both sides and has promised his support to both Milanović and Karamarko. Bandić will probably wait until the last minute and give his votes to a coalition with more support.
If SDP’s claims are true, that would mean that Milanović has the support of between 70 and 72 members of parliament, so he would need just four of the seats won by MOST. He would have the signatures of his 56 members, three members from IDS, eight minority representatives, Radimir Čačić, two Bandić’s party members, as well as the support of HDSSB. They believe that will make it easier for SDP to get the support of MOST as well.
However, HDZ believes that its Patriotic Coalition is more likely to form a government. They point out that they have more seats than SDP’s coalition. “We have 59 seats, and they have 56 seats. The others have still not given them their official support”, say sources from HDZ. They hope to make a deal with all members from MOST, but if there is a split, they believe they can also count on three minority representatives – Šandor Juhas, Veljko Kajtazi and Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj.
