Croatia elections, Plenkovic's conservatives lead polls

(ANSA) - ZAGREB, APR 11 - In Croatia, the conservatives led by outgoing premier Andrej Plenković, in power for nearly eight years, are the favorite in the general elections scheduled for April 17, with 31 percent of the vote, according to the latest poll released by public TV station Htv, the Union Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) would be by far the leading party nationwide, able to reappoint its leader, 51-year-old former diplomat Andrej Plenković, to head the country's government, for a third four-year term.
    In second place should be the Social Democrats (SDP), whose informal leader is the current president of the Republic, Zoran Milanović, former premier from 2011 to 2015 and a historical rival of Plenković. A 7% share that the Greens should win must be added to the center-left coalition. Some smaller centrist and liberal parties would enter the Parliament of Zagreb, the 151-member Sabor, leaning toward a coalition to replace the current government with a center-left one.
    The right-wingers present themselves in two blocs. The first, the Movement Patriotic (DP), is strong in the east of the country, in Slavonia, but at the national level, it would get about ten percent.
    The Bridge (Most), a sovereignist party critical of the Europeanist policies of the HDZ, with strong anti-migratory rhetoric, would get around seven percent.
    The poll results, translated into the number of deputies, give the conservatives 60 seats. To these seats must be added the three from the Croatian diaspora and the eight from ethnic minorities, traditionally aligned with the winning side. If confirmed, these numbers would give Plenković a comfortable advantage over 71 deputies, but still without reaching the majority of 76.
    For now, therefore, the election outcome looks like a repeat of the previous elections, held in July 2020, when, however, the HDZ obtained slightly higher percentages, and Plenković could announce that he had formed the majority government as early as a few hours after the polls closed. (ANSA).