Croatia president sets election date

Croatia’s President Stjepan Mesic has formally called parliamentary elections for November 25. The vote will be the sixth since the country proclaimed its independence from federal Yugoslavia in 1991. Croatia president sets election date Mesic’s announcement on Wednesday came five days after parliament was dissolved in preparation for the polls. According to opinion polls, the opposition Social Democrats are narrowly ahead of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's conservative Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ. The HDZ has won all but one of the previous general elections, losing only in 2000, when a broad centre-left coalition, led by the SDP, managed to remove it from power shortly after the death of its founding father, President Franjo Tudjman. In the light of the opinion polls, analysts believe the election will produce a tight race. Neither of the two major parties looks set to be able to form a government on its own, so a coalition with smaller parties is likely. However, observers say both main parties are committed to Croatia's goals of securing a NATO membership invitation next year and joining the EU around 2010, and the election is unlikely to affect the country's broadly reformist course. The election campaign will officially start on November 3, and will last three weeks. Parliamentary elections are conducted in 10 electoral units in Croatia and in two special ones, one for the Croatian Diaspora and one for Croatia’s national minorities. The 160 deputies who get into parliament will be elected for a four-year term.

Croatia president sets election date

Mesić’s announcement on Wednesday came five days after parliament was dissolved in preparation for the polls.

According to opinion polls, the opposition Social Democrats are narrowly ahead of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's conservative Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.

The HDZ has won all but one of the previous general elections, losing only in 2000, when a broad centre-left coalition, led by the SDP, managed to remove it from power shortly after the death of its founding father, President Franjo Tuđman.

In the light of the opinion polls, analysts believe the election will produce a tight race.

Neither of the two major parties looks set to be able to form a government on its own, so a coalition with smaller parties is likely.

However, observers say both main parties are committed to Croatia's goals of securing a NATO membership invitation next year and joining the EU around 2010, and the election is unlikely to affect the country's broadly reformist course.

The election campaign will officially start on November 3, and will last three weeks.

Parliamentary elections are conducted in 10 electoral units in Croatia and in two special ones, one for the Croatian Diaspora and one for Croatia’s national minorities.

The 160 deputies who get into parliament will be elected for a four-year term.