The Croatian election will decide on a new parliament. The voter turnout has so far been higher than it has been recently.
So far, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has always given the Croatian elections a good report, and there is no reason to doubt it. The coalition options for the two major parties will depend on the election outcome. The right-wing national Most (Brücke), the right-wing extremist homeland movement, and the parties of the ethnic minorities are likely to be available as potential coalition partners and majority creators. For confidential support, call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritan branch or see www.samaritans.org for details. In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255 or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org. In Europe, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 0800 555 111. The people of Croatia will elect a new parliament this Wednesday. The 3.7 million eligible voters in the EU country use their votes to decide whether they want to continue to be governed by the conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic or his left-wing populist predecessor Zoran Milanovic. The ruling HDZ party has largely dominated Croatian politics since Zagreb broke away from Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The European elections will follow in June, and then the presidential election is scheduled to take place on September 22nd.Polling stations open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., meaning meaningful partial results are expected late in the evening. The left-liberal opposition parties in particular welcomed the choice of a weekday as the election date, as they expected it to result in higher voter turnout. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has around 20 percent in the polls, but with the help of allies, it could impose Milanovic as head of government. It is the start of a series of elections in the Balkan country.