HDZ Woes Suggest New Croatia Polls Likely

With the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, losing potential partners for forming a new governing majority in the Croatian parliament, new general elections seem to be a realistic scenario in the coming months, an analyst told BIRN.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic will "keep the government going for a little while" so he has "an excuse to push for snap elections", political analyst Zarko Puhovski predicted.

A mooted alliance between the HDZ and the opposition liberal Croatian People's Party, HNS - an apparent mismatch of right and left political parties - has already run into trouble.

Speculation that Ivan Vrdoljak, the president of the HNS, is seeking a way to enter the government has caused strong opposition within his own party because of the HDZ's right-wing stance and claims that the administration is not competent.

Vrdoljak has allegedly been promised three ministerial positions, the position of Vice Prime Minister and control over the stalled comprehensive educational curriculum reform.

Speculation about the HNS supporting the HDZ in parliament or entering the government have dominated the media since late April, when HDZ president and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic removed three ministers from his cabinet who came from the former junior government coalition partner the Bridge of the Independent Lists, MOST.

Plenkovic's move ended the HDZ-MOST coalition.

In an interview with BIRN in May, Vrdoljak explicitly rejected the idea of joining the HDZ-led administration.

High-ranking HNS official Anka Mrak-Taritas, who narrowly lost to Milan Bandic in the contest for the position of Zagreb mayor, threatened on Friday that she will leave the party if the HNS supports the HDZ in any way.

Sources inside...