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2nd LD Writethru: Exit poll shows two major parties neck-and-neck in Croatian early parliamentary elections

Xinhua, September 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Two major parties were neck-and-neck in Croatian early parliamentary elections, according to an exit poll released on Sunday night.

The People's Coalition, led by the Croatian Social Democratic Party (SDP), would won 57 seats in the 151-seat parliament and its rival the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) would has 57 seats, it said.

The MOST party, which was the third winner in last election held in November 2015, would get 12 seats and a small party Living Wall could make a new surprise with seven seats, six more than last time, the polls added.

Despite a tied race, the HDZ likely has a better chance as traditionally it enjoyed the supports from Croatia's diaspora, who has the three reserved seats in the parliament.

But it still needs to look for the alliance with small parties or representatives of minorities, who has eight reserved seats, to secure an enough majority for forming a new government.

Also there are changes for People's coalition too, but it largely depends on small parties, especially the MOST.

It is obvious that small "third-way" parties will once again play a key role in forming a new government, similar with last election when junior party MOST had a surprise win with 19 seats.

With the victory, MOST negotiated with two biggest party HDZ and SDP for months and at last formed a coalition government with HDZ, but the government stepped down only five months later following a no-confidence vote in June.

Analysts here worry about a similar scenario likely to happen this time and prolonged talks on forming a government and potentially another election.

They considered the uncertainty could harm the country's economy which emerged from a six-year recession in 2015 and still remains one of the European Union's weakest.

Meanwhile, they believed Croatia was turning a new chapter in its political history. Two strongest parties, the HDZ and the SDP who ruled the country for 25 years, would lose their positions in the future political stage and junior partners would have chance with strong word.

However unstable governments and early elections likely become to reality, they added. Endit