2020 Croatian parliamentary election

In the previous parliamentary election, held on 11 September 2016, the center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won an upset plurality of seats - receiving 61 MPs in the parliament, while the opposition People's Coalition won 54 seats.{{cite web |title=Oni su pobjednici u svojim izbornim jedinicama |url=https://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/parlamentarni-izbori-2016-rezultati-preferencijalnih-glasova---449846.html |website=dnevnik.hr |access-date=20 May 2020}} Therefore, HDZ chairman Andrej Plenković began talks on the formation of a governing majority with the third-placed Bridge of Independent Lists (Most) party, as well as with MPs representing national minorities. Meanwhile, as a result of the defeat of his coalition the SDP chairman (and People's Coalition Prime Ministerial candidate), Zoran Milanović, announced his withdrawal from politics.{{cite web |title=Zoran Milanović podnio ostavku na mjesto čelnika SDP-a |url=https://evarazdin.hr/politika/zoran-milanovic-podnio-ostavku-na-mjesto-celnika-sdp-a-358447/ |website=evarazdin.hr |date=12 September 2016 |access-date=20 May 2020}} A few weeks after the election, HDZ and Most successfully concluded their coalition talks and agreed to form a government that would rely on the outside support of the 8 Members of Parliament representing the national minorities. As a result, on 10 October 2016, Plenković presented 91 signatures of support from MPs to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and she, therefore, proceeded to give him a 30-day mandate (expiring on 9 November 2016) to form a government. Thereafter, Parliament formally convened on 14 October 2016 with the election of Most chairman Božo Petrov as a Speaker, while a parliamentary vote held on 19 October 2016 confirmed the proposed Cabinet of Andrej Plenković by a vote of 91 in favor, 45 against and 3 abstentions.{{cite web |title=Dobili smo Vladu, Plenković je postao novi premijer, podržao ga je 91 zastupnik dok je 45 bilo protiv |url=https://www.telegram.hr/politika-kriminal/konacno-smo-dobili-novu-vladu-andrej-plenkovic-postao-je-novi-premijer/ |website=telegram.hr |access-date=20 May 2020}} Thus, Plenković became the 12th Prime Minister of Croatia, while his cabinet became the fourteenth to hold the office since the first multi-party election took place in 1990 – while Croatia was still a constituent republic of SFR Yugoslavia.

Most left the governing coalition in April 2017 amid a disagreement with the HDZ over Finance Minister Zdravko Marić's alleged withholding of information relating to financial irregularities in Agrokor - one of Croatia's largest firms, which had brought about a crisis due to Agrokor not being able to pay back its loans. Thus, as the HDZ-led government was left without a clear parliamentary majority (and a no-confidence vote in Marić was only narrowly avoided by a 75–75 split vote in Parliament), the possibility of an early election (the third in 18 months) greatly increased during May. However, in June the Plenković government managed to regain a parliamentary majority by forming a new cabinet, which included members of the center-left Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats (HNS-LD). Yet, the decision to enter into government with the HDZ - made by the HNS-LD's central body, was quite unexpected and thus immediately created a split within the HNS-LD. Namely, only five of the party's nine MPs decided to support the newly formed coalition, while the remaining four (including former party chair Vesna Pusić) opted instead to form a new political party - named the Civic-Liberal Alliance (Glas), and remain in the opposition.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his HDZ party have faced criticism from numerous activists, public figures and political opponents for allegedly dissolving the Parliament several months in advance in order to avoid holding elections during a major economic crisis (caused by the COVID-19 pandemic), which is expected to have a severe impact on Croatia in autumn, once the financial losses in the tourism sector are included in economic projections.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

Many citizens of Zagreb have accused the government and the ruling HDZ party of leaving them unprotected for several months by dissolving the Parliament and by failing to adopt the necessary legal measures to deal with the earthquake damage before doing so. Namely, instead of pursuing the adoption of a set of emergency laws, the government has decided to delay any new legal framework on this issue by at least 3 to 6 months. This caused activists from several public platforms - mainly from Green-Left coalition, to gathered on St. Mark's Square on 17 May 2020, where they remained for 24 hours in order to protest against the resolution on the early dissolution of parliament.{{cite web |title='ZAGREB VAM OVO NEĆE ZABORAVITI!' Ogorčeni čelnici stranaka ljevice prosvjeduju na Markovu trgu, najavljuju da će tamo ostati do sutra |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/foto-zagreb-vam-ovo-nece-zaboraviti-ogorceni-celnici-stranaka-ljevice-prosvjeduju-na-markovu-trgu-najavljuju-da-ce-tamo-ostati-do-sutra/10316563/ |website=jutarnji.hr |date=17 May 2020 |access-date=21 May 2020}}

As soon as parliament was dissolved the HDZ's local branch in the city of Vukovar (the site of one of the most major and emotionally symbolic battles in the Croatian War of Independence) decided to cut its ties with the party's central organization, claiming that they felt that their city has been misused for political gain and that the government had also failed to provide it with opportunities for economic development. Thus, this former branch of the HDZ will contest the election as part of some other coalition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegram.hr/price/koliko-je-ovaj-snazan-udar-iz-vukovara-opasan-za-hdz-na-izborima/|title=Koliko je ovaj snažan udar iz Vukovara opasan za HDZ na izborima|website=Telegram.hr}}

The following is a partisan makeup of the 9th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament as of 18 May 2020:{{cite web |title=Stranački sastav Hrvatskog sabora 18-5-2020 |url=https://www.izbori.hr/site/UserDocsImages/2020/Izbori_za_zastupnike_u_HS/Obavijesti/20200527114517_stranacki_sastav_HS.pdf |website=izbori.hr |access-date=28 May 2020}}

On 18 May 2020, the 9th Assembly dissolved itself by a vote of 105 in favor.{{cite web |title=9th Croatian Parliament dissolved |url=https://sabor.hr/en/press/news/9th-croatian-parliament-dissolved |website=sabor.hr |access-date=19 May 2020}}

File:Croatian Parliament electoral districts before 2023.png

The 151 members of the Croatian Parliament are elected from 10 geographical and two special electoral districts:[http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2077_B.htm Electoral system] IPU

• 140 seats are elected in ten geographical 14-seat electoral districts (1st–10th Electoral Districts) by open list proportional representation (using a 5% electoral threshold) with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method
• 3 seats are elected in a special electoral district (11th Electoral District) for Croatian citizens living abroad
• 8 seats are elected from an electoral district for national minorities (12th Electoral District): 3 seats for Serbian, 1 seat for Italian, 1 seat for Hungarian, 1 seat for Czech and Slovak, 1 seat for Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Slovenian, and 1 seat for Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Jewish, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Rusyn, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vlach national minority

{{main|Opinion polling for the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election}}

{{#section-h: Opinion polling for the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election|Graph}}

{{#section-h: Opinion polling for the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election|National}}

File:Parlamentarni izbori u Hrvatskoj 2020.svg and Zagreb's four electoral districts
{{Legend2|{{party color|Croatian Democratic Union}}|HDZ-led coalition}}
{{Legend2|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Croatia}}|Restart Coalition}}
{{Legend2|{{party color|Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats}}|HNS–LD}}
{{Legend2|#9095df|DPMŠ-led coalition}}
{{Legend2|#4a217b|NS–R}}
{{Legend2|#fff200|Enough of Robbery}}
{{Legend2|#ff73df|Lacković independent list}}
{{Legend2|#4fc7ff|IP–Pametno–Fokus}}]]

File:2020 Croatian parliamentary election - Vote Strength by Municipality.svg

The ruling HDZ obtained an upset victory over the Restart Coalition, who had previously been leading in opinion polls for several weeks prior to the elections. The HDZ likely received a boost from public approval over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also caused voter turnout to be the lowest since the first democratic elections in 1990, with under half of registered voters participating.

{{Election results

|image=File:Croatie Sabor 2020.svg

|party1=HDZ–HSLS–HDS–HDSSB{{efn-lr|Of the 66 seats won by the HDZ-led alliance, the HDZ won 62, the Croatian Social Liberal Party won two and the Croatian Christian Democratic Party and Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja won one each.}}|votes1=621035|seats1=66|sc1=+5

|party2=SDP–HSS–GLAS–IDS–HSU–SNAGA–PGS{{efn-lr|Of the 41 seats won by the Restart coalition, the Social Democratic Party won 33, the Istrian Democratic Assembly three, the Croatian Peasant Party two, the Croatian Party of Pensioners one, the Civic Liberal Alliance one, the Damir Bajs Independent List one.}}|votes2=414645|seats2=41|sc2=–4

|party3=DPMŠ–HS–HKS–HRAST−BzH–ZL−SU{{efn-lr|Of the 16 seats won by the DPMŠ-led coalition, the DPMŠ won eleven, the Croatian Sovereignists three, Croatian Conservative Party one and the Bloc for Croatia one.}}|votes3=181493|seats3=16|sc3=New

|party4=Bridge of Independent Lists|votes4=123194|seats4=8|sc4=–5

|party5=Green–Left (M!–RF–NL–ORaH){{efn-lr|Of the seven seats won by the Green–Left Coalition, four were won by We can! and one each by the Workers' Front, the New Left and an independent candidate (Bojan Glavašević).}}|votes5=116483|seats5=7|sc5=New

|party6=IP–Smart–Focus{{efn-lr|The three seats won by the IP–Smart–Focus coalition were divided equally between IP, Smart and Focus.}}|votes6=66399|seats6=3|sc6=+3

|party7=Enough of Robbery|votes7=37628|seats7=0|sc7=–8

|party8=Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats|votes8=21727|seats8=1|sc8=–8

|party9=People's Party – Reformists|votes9=16900|seats9=1|sc9=0

|party10=Bandić Milan 365 – Labour and Solidarity Party|votes10=9897|seats10=0|sc10=–1

|party11=Croatian Civic Party|votes11=7399|seats11=0|sc11=0

|party12=Right League (NHR and HSP)|votes12=7266|seats12=0|sc12=New

|party13=Democrats–HL–RI|votes13=6594|seats13=0|sc13=New

|party14=Authentic Croatian Party of Rights|votes14=5343|seats14=0|sc14=0

|party15=Pensioners Together Bloc|votes15=5268|seats15=0|sc15=0|color15=#8b2d3b

|party16=Croatian Democratic Party|votes16=2465|seats16=0|sc16=0|color16=#1974D2

|party17=Strength of Slavonia and Baranja|votes17=2294|seats17=0|sc17=New|color17=#133D91

|party18=Socialist Labour Party of Croatia|votes18=2149|seats18=0|sc18=0

|party19=Union of Kvarner|votes19=2044|seats19=0|sc19=New|color19=#1a9beb

|party20=Movement for a Modern Croatia|votes20=1307|seats20=0|sc20=0|color20=purple

|party21=My Beloved Croatia|votes21=978|seats21=0|sc21=New|color21=blue

|party22=Authentic Croatian Peasant Party|votes22=958|seats22=0|sc22=0

|party23=BDSH–HBPS|votes23=768|seats23=0|sc23=0|color23=#262F74

|party24=Croatian Party of the Future|votes24=732|seats24=0|sc24=New|color24=blue

|party25=Croatian Civil Resistance Party|votes25=714|seats25=0|sc25=New|color25=darkblue

|party26=Independent List of Bura|votes26=626|seats26=0|sc26=New|color26=#0DA1BF

|party27=Free Croatia|votes27=605|seats27=0|sc27=0|color27=#21B0E9

|party28=Croatian Perspective Party|votes28=576|seats28=0|sc28=0|color28=cornflowerblue

|party29=Croatian Community Party|votes29=405|seats29=0|sc29=New|color29=lightcoral

|party30=Croatian Party of Order|votes30=338|seats30=0|sc30=0|color30=blue

|party31=Alphabet of Democracy|votes31=219|seats31=0|sc31=New|color31=#0090D7

|party32=Independents|votes32=8524|seats32=0|sc32=–1

|row33=National minorities|seats33=8|sc33=0

|invalid=38713

|total_sc=0

|electorate=3672555

|source=[https://www.izbori.hr/sabor2020/rezultati/1/ Izbori]

}}

{{Notelist-lr}}

Note: The eight members elected in Electoral district XII are not shown here.

Acknowledging his party's defeat in the legislative elections, Davor Bernardić stepped down as the leader of Social Democrats.{{Cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/croatias-opposition-leader-stepping-down-123436600.html|title=Croatia's opposition leader stepping down after vote defeat}}

On 6 July 2020 HDZ leader Andrej Plenković announced that he had collected the support of the 76 MPs needed to form a government, following coalition negotiations. He announced that he had received support from his party and allies, the HNS – LD, the NS-R, and all 8 representatives of the national minorities. The Second Plenković cabinet was confirmed by Parliament on 23 July 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.intellinews.com/hdz-s-andrej-plenkovic-ready-to-form-new-government-in-croatia-186948/|title = HDZ's Andrej Plenkovic ready to form new government in Croatia | bne IntelliNews|date = 6 July 2020}}

• 2020 in Croatia
• COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{official|https://www.izbori.hr/site/izbori-referendumi/izbori-za-zastupnike-u-hrvatski-sabor/izbori-za-zastupnike-u-hrvatski-sabor-2272/2272}}

{{Croatian elections}}

Parliamentary election

Category:Parliamentary elections in Croatia

Parliamentary

Croatia