Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 8 November 2015. All 151 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the first multi-party election in 1990 and the first since Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. The ruling center-left Croatia is Growing coalition, led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, was challenged by the center-right Patriotic Coalition led by the HDZ and headed by its party chairman Tomislav Karamarko, and also faced several new political coalitions.

The elections produced a hung parliament, with the ruling Croatia is Growing coalition winning 56 seats in the 10 electoral constituencies within Croatia and 3 of the 8 representatives of national minorities (Ermina Lekaj-Prljaskaj and Veljko Kajtazi are members of HNS and Sándor Juhász is a member of SDP). The opposition Patriotic Coalition won 56 seats within Croatia and all three seats allocated to Croatian citizens living abroad, winning 59 seats, technically tying with the ruling coalition. The IDS-PGS-RI coalition was expected to side with Croatia is Growing, as well as the remaining 5 minority representatives, giving Prime Minister Milanović's coalition 67 seats to 59 for Karamarko's opposition coalition. This left Milanović 9 seats short of a majority, while Karamarko needed 17 seats.

The third-placed MOST led by Metković mayor Božo Petrov, which won 19 seats, was expected to be the deciding factor in the formation of the next government of Croatia. After the election Drago Prgomet of MOST stated that neither Milanović nor Karamarko would be their choice for Prime Minister and that MOST will decide on who will head the 13th government of Croatia. Some within MOST had stated they prefer the formation of a national unity government made up of HDZ, SDP and MOST, though this was considered extremely unlikely. On 11 November Patriotic coalition leader Karamarko openly rejected the prospect of an HDZ-SDP-MOST government. This was followed by more than 45 days of negotiations between all three coalitions.

On 22 December it was stated that Croatia is Growing would form a government with MOST, however, on 23 December, MOST decided to give its support to a government with the HDZ. The coalition was further supported by Milan Bandić 365 and two independent minority representatives, giving them a slim majority of 78 seats in Parliament, two more than the required 76 seats. They nominated a Croatian-Canadian businessman named Tihomir Orešković, who was generally unknown to the public and who had spent most of his life in Canada, to be the next prime minister.Tihomir Orešković to Be Named as Croatian Prime Minister-Designate, Total Croatia News, 23 December 2015. A new government finally took office on 22 January 2016 with Orešković as the 11th Prime Minister, after a record 76 days of negotiations.

Background

The 2011 general election was held on 4 December 2011 and resulted in the victory of the center-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 center-right Croatian Democratic Union. Other smaller opposition parties are the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party and the Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja.

The previous 7th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament was dissolved on 28 September 2015, with the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović subsequently being tasked with scheduling the elections on a Sunday within 60 days of the dissolution.

Electoral system Elections were held in 10 electoral districts inside Croatia each with a roughly equal number of registered voters and 14 seats, supplemented by one electoral district for Croatian citizens living abroad (3 seats), and one electoral district for national minorities (8 seats). Parties or alliances had to pass a 5% threshold in each electoral district in order to qualify for seats, which were then distributed proportionally between the qualified lists using the D'Hondt method. As voters were allowed to select both a list and a candidate from it, the ranking of candidates on the list was superseded by voter selection wherever candidates got at least 10% of the list's votes.

Electoral law amendments In February 2015 the Croatian parliament voted to amend the country's election rules by introducing a number of changes, most importantly introducing an element of preferential voting by letting candidate selection function as a most open list system for candidates receiving a minimum of 10%, while keeping list ranking for those that do not meet this quota. In addition there were several other changes, including a gender quota, a ban on convicted criminals running, new rules for monitoring of the elections, changes to the way media covers elections etc. The proposal came from the ruling Social Democratic Party as well as several other minor changes. The opposition left Parliament and did not participate in the voting process. However, on 25 September 2015 the Constitutional Court of Croatia ruled that some of the changes to the electoral law were unconstitutional, including a ban on criminals convicted for misuse of position running for office, while maintaining this ban for other offences, an electoral list quota of 40% candidates of each gender and an obligation to collect 1,500 signatures for a political party to run in an electoral district.

Political parties

Name Abbr. Ideology Political spectrum Leader Seats 2011 Seats before election Electoral districtsCroatia is Growing coalition Social Democratic Party of CroatiaSocijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske SDP Social democracy Centre-left Zoran Milanović 61 56 all but XI Croatian People's Party-Liberal DemocratsHrvatska narodna stranka - liberalni demokrati HNS Liberalism, Economic liberalism, Progressivism Centre left Vesna Pusić 14 11 Croatian Labourists - Labour PartyHrvatski laburisti - stranka rada Laburisti Labor rights Left-wing Nansi Tireli 6 2 Croatian Party of PensionersHrvatska stranka umirovljenika HSU Single-issue politics (pensioner's rights) Centre-left Silvano Hrelja 3 4 Authentic Croatian Peasant Party A-HSS Agrarianism Centre-right Stanko Grčić 0 0 Zagorje Party ZS Regionalism (Hrvatsko Zagorje) Centre Miljenko Jerneić 0 0Patriotic Coalition Croatian Democratic UnionHrvatska demokratska zajednica HDZ Christian democracy, Social conservatism Centre-right Tomislav Karamarko 44 42 all Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante StarčevićHrvatska stranka prava dr. Ante Starčević HSP AS National conservatism Right-wing Ivan Tepeš 1 1 Croatian Peasant PartyHrvatska seljačka stranka HSS Agrarianism, Christian democracy, Social conservatism Centre-right Branko Hrg 1 1 Croatian Social Liberal PartyHrvatska socijalno liberalna stranka HSLS Liberalism Centre Darinko Kosor 0 0 Bloc Pensioners Together BUZ Single-issue politics (Pensioners' rights) Milivoj Špika 0 Croatian Growth Hrast Social conservatism Ladislav Ilčić Did not exist 0 Croatian Christian Democratic Party HDS Christian democracy Goran Dodig 0 0 Democratic Party of Zagorje ZDS Regionalism (Hrvatsko Zagorje) Stanko Belina 0 0"The Right to Our Own" coalition Istrian Democratic AssemblyIstarski demokratski sabor IDS Istrian regionalism, social liberalism Centre-left Boris Miletić 3 2 VIII Alliance of Primorje-Gorski KotarPrimorsko goranski savez PGS Regionalism (Primorje-Gorski Kotar) Darijo Vasilić 0 0 List for RijekaLista za Rijeku RI Regionalism (Rijeka) 0 0Successful Croatia coalition People's Party - ReformistsNarodna stranka - Reformisti Reformisti Economic liberalism Centre Radimir Čačić Did not exist 3 all Forward Croatia! - Progressive AllianceNaprijed Hrvatska! - Progresivni savez Naprijed Hrvatska! Progressivism, Social democracy Centre-left Ivo Josipović Did not exist 1 Party of Croatian Pensioners, Green Forum, Dubrovnik Democratic Assembly Umirovljenici, ZF, DDS 0 0Labour and Solidarity Coalition Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and SolidarityMilan Bandić 365 - stranka rada i solidarnosti Bandić 365 Populism Centre Milan Bandić Did not exist 0 all Istrian democratsIstarski demokrati ID-DI Regionalism Centre-left Damir Kajin Did not exist 1 New wave- Party of DevelopmentNovi val-Stranka razvoja Novi val Social Democratic Centre-left Ljubo Jurčić Did not exist 1 Democratic Party of Prigorje and Zagreb, Democratic Women's Party, European Party of Croatia, Croatian Workers' Party, Croatian Party of Greens – Eco-Alliance, Međimurje Party, Independent Croatian Farmers, Pensioners' Party, Pensioners' Democratic Union, Green Alliance, Green Party DPS, DSŽ, HES, HRS, Zeleni, MS, SU, UDU, Zeleni, ZS 0 0Coalition "Ready" Croatian Conservative PartyHrvatska konzervativna stranka HKS National conservatism, Economic liberalism Right-wing Ruža Tomašić Did not exist 0 all Croatian Party of RightsHrvatska stranka prava HSP National liberalism, Croatian nationalism, Euroscepticism far right Daniel Srb 0 0 Family PartyObiteljska stranka OS Social conservatism Right-wing Mate Knezović 0 0Not part of any coalition Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and BaranjaHrvatski demokratski savez Slavonije i Baranje HDSSB Slavonian regionalism, Conservativism Right-wing Dragan Vulin 6 7 IV, V Croatian Citizen PartyHrvatska građanska stranka HGS Right-wing populism Centre-right Željko Kerum 2 2 IX, X Sustainable Development of CroatiaOdrživi razvoj Hrvatske ORaH Sustainable development, Environmentalism, Progressivism Centre-left Mirela Holy Did not exist 3 all Bridge of Independent ListsMost nezavisnih lista Most Fiscal conservatism, Economic liberalism Centre-right Božo Petrov Did not exist 0 all Human BlockadeŽivi zid Živi zid Populism, Anti-establishment, Euroscepticism Centre Five Co-presidents Did not exist 0 all but XI (joint list with AM in IX) Youth ActionAkcija mladih AM 0 0 all but XI (joint list with Živi zid in IX) In the Name of the Family – Project HomelandU Ime Obitelji – projekt Domovina UiO-projekt Domovina Social conservatism, Political Catholicism Right-wing Željka Markić Did not exist 0 all Authentic Croatian Party of RightsAutohtona – Hrvatska stranka prava A-HSP 0 0 all Croatian Christian Democratic Union, Croatian Democratic Party, National Democrats HKDU, HDS, ND 0 0 I, III, V–VII, IX–XI Croatian Dawn – Party of the PeopleHrvatska Zora Stranka Naroda HZ Social conservatism, Christian democracy Right-wing Milan Kujundžić Did not exist 0 I, II, VI, VII, IX, X Socialist Labour Party of CroatiaSocijalistička radnička partija SRP Communism Far-left Vladimir Kapularin 0 0 II, III, VIII, X, XI For the CityZa Grad Za Grad Did not exist 0 I, II, VI, VII Defenders' Patriotic Party of CroatiaBraniteljsko Domoljubna Stranka Hrvatske BDSH 0 0 I, III, IV, VII Workers' FrontRadnička fronta RF Democratic socialism Far-left collective leadership Did not exist 0 I, VI, VIII SmartPametno Pametno Economic liberalism Centre Marijana Puljak Did not exist 0 I, VII, X Together MovementPokret Zajedno Pokret Zajedno Did not exist 0 I, VII, VIII Croatian Party of OrderHrvatska stranka reda HSR Did not exist 0 II Međimurje Democratic AllianceMeđimurske demokratski savez MDS Did not exist 0 III Democratic Union of National Renewal – RightDemokratski Savez Nacionalne Obnove – Desno Desno National conservatism, Croatian nationalism Far-right Anto Đapić Did not exist 0 IV

Opinion polls

Results

On November 9, 2015, State Election Commission published only the provisional official results from the 99.9% of regular polling stations because elections were repeated in 7 polling stations due to irregularities on election day. Final results were announced on 24 November.