Croatia Stalemate Makes New Elections More Likely

Talks on forming a potential new government in Croatia have yet to bear fruit after parliamentary elections on November 8 finished without a clear winner.

The governing centre-left coalition, led by the Social Democratic Party, SDP won 56 seats, while the opposition centre-right coalition, led by Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, won 59. There are 151 seats in total.

Although the SDP has won over the three MPs of the regional Istrian Democratic Assemby, IDS, and eight MPs representing national minorities, it is still at least nine MPs short of  forming a majority, which requires 76 MPs.

The biggest surprise in the elections, the Bridge of the Independent Lists, MOST, which won 19 seats, has already expelled one of its MPs, Drago Prgomet, for holding secret talks with SDP president and Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.

Forming a government without MOST looks improbable.

MOST initially suggested forming a national unity government, but this idea was soon rejected by both the HDZ and the SDP.

MOST has since started long negotiations with both sides, demanding reforms of the state administration, the fiscal and monetary systems, agriculture and other areas.

But, with talks between MOST and the SDP and HDZ respectively not moving beyond the starting point, new elections may become the only option.

Political analyst Zarko Puhovski told BIRN that there were only two possibilities: "The SDP forms the government with some of the MOST MPs, or new elections.

"The HDZ practically cannot form the government in this situation since it would need the whole of MOST, which is not whole any longer. You have to bear in mind that although you formally need only 76 MPs [to form a majority], you technically need 78 or 79 MPs to obtain a...