The centre-right ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won its fourth parliamentary elections in a row on Wednesday, April 17th, but it will likely have to rely on the conservative, patriotic Homeland Movement to form a government. The EU and NATO member Croatia is moving further to the Right, according to Croatian journalist Goran Andrijanić, who says patriotic forces are gaining in strength not only in the opposition but also within the ruling HDZ party.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s HDZ party—a member of the centre-right-liberal European People’s Party—gained 34% of the votes and 61 seats of the 151 seats available in parliament, according to almost final results published on Thursday. This is not enough for the party to secure a majority, and it will have to rely not only on the backing of the ethnic minority candidates (to whom eight seats are allocated), but also one other party.
This could be the right-wing nationalist Homeland Movement, which came third, increasing its number of seats by two to 14. “I hope that we shall tailor the fate of Croatia in the days ahead,” party leader Ivan Penava said, adding the party’s main condition is not to join a government that would include