November 15 the favourite date for parliamentary elections?
The next parliamentary elections will be held this year, and not in February 2016, which is the final legal deadline for the elections to take place, sources close to prime minister Zoran Milanović said to Jutarnji List. SDP has definitely decided against holding the elections in 2016 and now the only discussions are whether they are going to take place in November or early December. There are a few dates being mentioned, but the ruling party will probably decide that elections should take place in November, before the anniversary of the fall of Vukovar on November 18, reports Jutarnji List on August 25, 2015.
The most likely option is for elections to be held on November 15. The ruling party does not want to politicize the anniversary of the fall of Vukovar. However, there are those who claim that it would be better to wait for the probably positive results of GDP growth in the third quarter which will be published at the end of November. However, the prime minister seems closer to the option of elections being held on November 15.
The budget for next year will not be passed in this parliament because the government believes that it would not be fair to adopt a budget for the next government, even if the current ruling coalition remains in power. The parliament will adopt a temporary financing resolution.
The ruling coalition now first has to officially sign the agreement on the electoral coalition between SDP, HNS, HSU, Labour Party and A-HSS, which will be followed by a choice of candidates which will hold first positions on the lists in ten electoral constituencies. Although the government claims that the decision will be made by all the parties of the coalition, the reality is that the decision is in the hands of Milanović, since SDP will have nine first places, while the tenth belongs to HNS. Until recently, there were some who believed that IDS should be offered the first place on the list in the eight constituency, but that option is now highly unrealistic. Actually, IDS could become a major rival to SDP coalition in Primorje-Istria constituency, which traditionally belongs to left parties.
Zoran Milanović will certainly have the first position in the first constituency, which includes a centre of Zagreb. Second place is reserved for Vesna Pusić, although her political plans for the future are primarily related to the United Nations (not necessarily to the position of the Secretary General of the UN). The first constituency could become particularly interesting if former president and former SDP member Ivo Josipović also runs there, because that would lead to his direct duel with Milanović.
Zoran Milanović will make the final decision on who will take the first position on the lists in other constituencies, but first he has to sign a formal agreement on the founding of the new centre-left coalition, which probably will not include IDS.
