Next Croatian parliamentary election

Next Croatian parliamentary election
Croatia
On or before 20 February 2016
All 151 seats to Hrvatski sabor
76 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
 
Leader Zoran Milanović Tomislav Karamarko
Party Kukuriku HDZ
Leader since 2 June 2007 21 May 2012
Last election 81 seats 47 seats
Current seats 80 43
 
Leader Nansi Tireli Mirela Holy
Party Labour ORaH
Leader since 15 January 2015 28 October 2013
Last election 6 seats New party
Current seats 5 1
Incumbent Prime Minister

Zoran Milanović
SDP
2003 election • MPs
2007 election • MPs
2011 election • MPs
Next election
Coat of arms
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Croatia
Constitution
Foreign relations

Politics portal

The next Croatian parliamentary election has to be held on or before 20 February 2016, according to the constitution.[1][2] All 151 seats in the Croatian Parliament will be up for election.

Background

The 2011 general election was held on 4 December 2011 and resulted in the victory of the centre-left Kukuriku coalition led by the Social Democratic Party and supported by the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, Croatian Party of Pensioners and the Istrian Democratic Assembly. The largest opposition party is the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union. Other smaller opposition parties are the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party and the Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja.

Electoral system

The electoral system will likely see some changes compared to the last four elections. In December 2010, the Constitutional Court of Croatia decided to inform Parliament that it is necessary to update the electoral unit definitions according to current population data, in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Law on electoral units. It was too late to change the system for the 2011 election cycle, since electoral laws cannot be changed less than a year before the election. Therefore, the next election will occur with boundary changes to accommodate shifts in the population.[3] Minister of Public Administration Arsen Bauk announced major changes in the composition of the geographical electoral units. It is expected their number will be reduced from ten to five. They would follow the borders of Croatian counties with each encompassing several counties. This means they would not be roughly equal in size, as was the case before, but rather each district would give a different number of MPs, in proportion with their population. The population would be determined by census numbers, rather than the number of registered voters as was the case before. Two non-geographical districts, which give 3 seats for diaspora and 8 for minorities, would remain unchanged. 140 members would still come from the five geographical districts meaning the total number of seats would still be 151. Proportional representation would still be the method of electing members, however it is not clear whether the D'Hondt method would remain and whether there would be an introduction of open lists.[4]

Changes of electoral law

Croatian MPs have voted to amend the country’s election rules by introducing a system of preferential voting. The proposal came from the ruling Social Democratic Party. New rules introduce preferential voting and bars people convicted of crimes from running for office. The opposition left the Parliament and did not participate in the voting process.[5]

Political parties

Name Abbr. Ideology Leader Sabor 2011 Sabor Current
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske		 SDP Centre-left, Social democracy[6] Zoran Milanović 61 57
Croatian Democratic Union
Hrvatska demokratska zajednica		 HDZ Centre-right, Christian democracy, Social conservatism[7] Tomislav Karamarko 44 41
Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats
Hrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati		 HNS Centre, Liberalism, Economic liberalism, Progressivism [8][9] Vesna Pusić 14 12
Croatian Labourists - Labour Party
Hrvatski laburisti - stranka rada		 Labour Labor rights, left-wing populism Nansi Tirelli 6 3
Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja
Hrvatski demokratski savez Slavonije i Baranje		 HDSSB Slavonian regionalism, conservativism, right-wing populism Dragan Vulin 6 7
Istrian Democratic Assembly
Istarski demokratski sabor		 IDS Istrian regionalism, social liberalism Boris Miletić 3 2
Croatian Party of Pensioners
Hrvatska stranka umirovljenika		 HSU Single-issue politics (pensioner's rights) Silvano Hrelja 3 4
Independent Democratic Serb Party
Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka		 SDSS Serb minority politics, social democracy, liberal democracy Vojislav Stanimirović 3 3
Croatian Citizen Party
Hrvatska građanska stranka		 HGS Right-wing populism Željko Kerum 2 2
Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević
Hrvatska stranka prava dr. Ante Starčević		 HSP AS National conservatism, right-wing populism Ivan Tepeš 1 1
Democratic Centre
Demokratski centar		 DC Liberal conservatism Vesna Škare-Ožbolt 1 1
Croatian Peasant Party
Hrvatska seljačka stranka		 HSS Agrarianism, centrist, Christian democracy, social conservatism Branko Hrg 1 1
Sustainable Development of Croatia
Održivi razvoj Hrvatske		 ORaH Ecosocialism, Environmentalism, Progressivism Mirela Holy Did not exist 1
Živi zid
Živi zid		 Živi zid Populism, Anti-establishment Ivan Pernar Did not exist 0
People's Party - Reformists
Narodna straanka - Reformisti		 Reformisti Centre, Economic liberalism[10] Radimir Čačić Did not exist 2
Milan Bandić 365 - party of labor and solidarity
Milan Bandić 365 - stranka rada i solidarnosti		 Milan Bandić 365 Centre, Populism Milan Bandić Did not exist 0

Opinion polling

15-day average trend line of poll results from December 2011 to the present day, with each line corresponding to a political party.

References