Croatia's Living Wall 'Profiting From Populist Surge'

Despite its recent controversies, Croatia's anti-establishment Living Wall party is growing in popularity, which many see as evidence that Croatia is following the global trend towards more populist politics.

A poll last week conducted on 967 people by the agency Ipsos puls showed that its popularity had risen lately.

With the support of 9.5 per cent of those polled, it came third behind the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, with 33.6, and the Social Democrats, SDP, with 22.4 per cent. MOST came fourth place with 8.8 per cent.

Political analyst Zarko Puhovski told BIRN on Monday that Living Wall's success is "similar to that seen in the rest of the world".

However, he added: "Croatia is still a step behind this global trend since, fortunately, nobody is winning the elections on this [populism]," he said.

He said much of Living Wall's success comes from voters who formerly backed the junior party in government, the centre-right Bridge of the Independent Lists, MOST.

Puhovski said MOST's image had fallen as a result of its participation in government and its association with the senior government party, the centre-right HDZ.

MOST first appeared on the scene in the 2015 November general elections when it emerged as the third party in terms of seats, winning 19 out of 151 in total.

It then then formed a government - which fell last June - with the HDZ in January 2016 and joined another coalition government with the HDZ in October.

"The dissatisfaction or frustration on which populism always counts on has turned to Living Wall," Puhovski explained.

In the elections last September, Living Wall - a party born out of a movement formed to stop seizures of homes - won eight seats in coalition with two smaller parties...