MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) The ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party led by incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic is coming ahead in the parliamentary elections with 66 seats, the State Electoral Commission announced after 97.6 percent of the ballots were counted.
Plenkovic thanked his supporters late on Sunday, but stressed that the government was facing major challenges, particularly in the spheres of healthcare and economy.
"Thank you, dear friends, for the excellent result, the victory of HDZ tonight together with our partners," the prime minister said, adding that "such a result, our victory, a big victory, brings responsibilities ... because the challenges we face are looking even bigger."
According to preliminary data from the Croatian State Electoral Commission , HDZ is getting 66 seats in the 151-member Hrvatski Sabor (parliament), while the center-left Restart coalition led by the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) is getting 41 seats. The Domovinski Pokret (Homeland Movement) led by businessman and popular singer Miroslav Skoro is third with 16 mandates.
The threshold vote was also reached by the centrist Bridge of Independent Lists (MOST) party of former parliament speaker Bozo Petrov, the left-wing Mozemo! (We Can!) party, the liberal Pametno party and the Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats (HNS-LD), according to the electoral commission.
The estimated turnout at the parliamentary elections was 46.7 percent: 3.85 million voters cast their ballots at nearly 7,000 polling stations across the country and abroad. Voters were choosing from among 192 parties, coalitions and individual candidates.
