Grbin still holding out hopes of forming a parliamentary majority

As announced by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, whose HDZ and its coalition partners were the relative winners of the April 17th parliamentary elections in Croatia, post-election negotiations on the forming of a new parliamentary majority and subsequent government will continue next week.

The kingmaker in the negotiations is the Homeland Movement Party, having won a crucial fourteen seats in parliament. However, party president Ivan Penava, has made the Homeland Movement's conditions for backing any group in forming a parliamentary majority crystal clear. The three conditions are the de-ratification of the Istanbul Convention, the immediate end to illegal migrants flooding into the country and most importantly, that his party will not enter into any coalition agreement that includes the left-wing Možemo party or the Serb minority party, the SDSS. This puts the HDZ and Andrej Plenković in a bind, as with 61 seats in parliament, they are fifteen short of a majority.

Simultaneously, the SDP-led 'Rivers of Justice' coalition has not abandoned its bids to form a majority and constitute the 11th convocation of Croatian Parliament. SDP party president Peđa Grbin announced today that he will continue his talks with potential partners next week as well. The SDP and its 'River of Justice' coalition won 42 seats in parliament, and even with every left-wing vote in parliament would still be shy of a majority. For this reason the SDP has been approaching center-right parties such as the Homeland Movement and MOST, with the idea of unifying the opposition on anti-corruption issues in order to constitute the Parliament. Grbin today outlined the primary issues that need to be addressed: “First and foremost, is the issue of Ivan Turudić's appointment as Chief State Prosecutor, because we need a body in Croatia that will fight against corruption and crime and not serve to cover up corruption and crime. Second is the so-called Lex-AP, a law that aims to silence free speech and the freedom of the press.”

In an apparent bid to win over traditional political opponents the Homeland Movement, and perhaps more importantly MOST, Grbin mentioned the possibility of implementing some of the key issues from their respective campaigns: “Let's talk about making the election law more just. Let's see if there are any other things we can discuss. For example, in the last convocation of parliament MOST was advocating for a universal baby bonus. Why shouldn't we put this issue on the table as well? I have intentionally mentioned MOST, because they publicly supported this initiative.”

On Friday Plenković questioned the apparent double standard on the left in terms of how they view the Homeland Movement: “The corrupt Peđa Grbin is offering Mr. Penava the position of Parliament Speaker. How is it that this isn't a problem in the public domain? Where is the disgust? Here's what it is; if the Homeland Movement decides to go with the defeated losers who are at complete ideological odds with them, then they are part of this so-called quasi-anticorruption coalition. But, if they go with the HDZ and respect the will of the voters, then they are the worst possible fascists.”

Source: HRT