We haven't had any discussion of the Croatian elections being held this weekend. I hope whatever happens that there is a strong opposition to balance out Kukuriku.
Source:
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/ ... unday-poll PREVIEW: Croatian opposition set for Pyrrhic victory in Sunday poll
By Boris Babic Nov 30, 2011, 2:06 GMT
Zagreb - There are likely to be few winners in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Croatia.
The ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is expected to lose power, only the second time it has done so in the two decades since Croatia split from Yugoslavia. Some analysts forecast an election night disaster.
But the expected winners, the country's centre-left coalition, Kukuriku, might not be so happy with the prospect of wrestling power from HDZ after 20 years of being overpowered by the conservatives.
That's because victory means it will be left with the task of governing a partially obsolete economy, a nearly bankrupt state and agencies that have so far proven unable to curb spending and limit borrowing.
Indeed, aside from Croatia's pending accession to the European Union, in July 2013, most aspects of running the country run from unpleasant to potentially politically damaging.
Opinion polls predict that Kukuriku could win 38 per cent of the votes, twice as much as HDZ.
That would be a big slap in the face for HDZ, which was put on the political map in 1991 by late strongman Franjo
Tudjman. Analysts have said a lot of Sunday's results might be a repudiation against HDZ, which has worn out its welcome with regular allegations of corruption.
Dozens of investigations and trials targeting people close to the governing circle over the previous two years climaxed with the recent start of a corruption trial of former premier and HDZ leader Ivo Sanader.
The fact that it was the new HDZ head and premier, Jadranka Kosor, who lifted political obstacles that had held up the prosecutors for years, unleashing a crackdown on corruption, seems to mean little to voters who are simply tired of HDZ.
The crackdown simply came too late for Kosor and HDZ to consolidate or even score points as corruption fighters leading Croatia to European Union membership in July 2013.
Worse, the fallout from the Sanader case and other investigations led to an investigation against HDZ and its slush funds, and an embarrassing blockade of its assets.
Amid all the bad news, Kosor could offer few promises to the voters that sounded realistic. Even her message that 'I need four more years of premiership to finish corruption off' apparently failed to impress.
All of that cleared the way for Kukuriku - whose name means Cock-a-doodle, the name of the Zagreb restaurant where it was formed - with the Social Democratic Party acting as the key partner.
But winning will only be half the battle. The question remains what can be done to help the country.
Economic and administrative reforms will be key, but that will cost money, which is in short supply with the financial
crisis, which seems to push up borrowing costs by the day.
Skeptics even say that the Social Democrats have no intention of reforming and fighting corruption, pointing to the many municipalities they run, where graft and cronyism is as rampant as anywhere else in Croatia.
Finally, the political cost of reforming may be huge, with tens of thousands of unnecessary jobs in state companies and the administration at stake in the country of only 4.3 million.
'Croatia is in a bad shape and needs much changing,' Viseslav Raos, a political analyst with the Zagreb-based Political Science Research Centre, told dpa.
'There may be a will to reform, but it depends on whether we will have a stable majority,' he said. 'Even then, there are doubts over the political courage among leaders to sacrifice popularity for unpopular, even if absolutely necessary, reforms.'
A total 4.1 million voters are registered in Croatia and another 400,000 are eligible to cast ballots abroad, mostly in neighbouring Bosnia.
