Croatia's president on Saturday called a snap parliamentary election for Sept. 11, a vote held after the fragile right-wing government fell last month over a conflict of interest affair. The election in the European Union's newest member comes less than a year since the last one in November, where no clear winner emerged. A barely-functioning ruling coalition followed. It comes at a difficult time for Croatia, which is hauling itself out of a six-year recession from 2009-2014. The coalition's work was marred by constant disputes between the conservative HDZ party and its junior reformist partner Most, amid concerns over the country's shift to the right. "President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has decided to call an early parliamentary election on Sept. 11," a statement from her office said. The decision comes a day after the parliament was formally dissolved. The political crisis practically paralyzed Croatia and halted reforms it badly needs to get the economy, one of the bloc's weakest, back on track. The government wanted public debt, which has reached 87 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), to start dropping this year, falling to 80 percent of GDP by 2019 and was eyeing sweeping reforms, notably targeting the ailing health sector, pension system and state-run companies. The turmoil was sparked when reports emerged of a business deal between a lobbyist for Hungary's oil group MOL and the wife of HDZ leader and powerful Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko. MOL is currently in arbitration with Croatia over its national oil group INA, in which it is a main shareholder. As the coalition partners traded calls for resignations, HDZ filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic, a former pharmaceutical executive with no party affiliation. Oreskovic's government fell in mid-June which was immediately followed by Karamarko's resignation as the oil affair dented the party's image. A national ethnics watchdog had ruled that Karamarko had a conflict of interest although he insisted it was a "fabricated affair." The latest surveys give the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP), in power for four years until the November vote, a solid 10 percent lead over HDZ. Analysts say the SDP, which signed a coalition deal with three junior partners on Saturday, was likely to win the most votes. "The coalition gathers the left, the center and the center-right ... everyone who backs a progressive Croatia," SDP leader and former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told journalists after signing. He said the ‘People's Coalition' would "focus on labor and education" and move Croatia away from a far-right surge and a climate of intolerance. "Our place is in Europe, this is where we belong and this is where we return," Milanovic said. On Sunday, HDZ is set to elect Andrej Plenkovic, a moderate deputy in the European Parliament, its new head in a bid to improve its image and possibly challenge SDP. Plenkovic, a 46-year-old career diplomat who is untarnished by corruption affairs, has vowed that under his leadership HDZ would be a modern European conservative party. Under his predecessor HDZ was criticized for fostering a growing climate of intolerance and a far-right surge in the country. The September vote will be the former Yugoslav republic's first snap election since its 1991 independence.
