Croatia’s conservatives win, helped by tougher stance on migration

Preliminary results showed that Croatia’s conservative opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had narrowly won the general election held on the 8 November 2015 over the ruling Social Democrats (SPD). The third strongest party, and therefore a potential coalition partner, was the new liberal party Most. Commentators predicted lengthy coalition talks between the parties.

A coalition of Croatian conservative parties nominated pharmaceutical executive and technocract Tihomir Oreskovic as the candidate for premiership on the 23 December 2015. The move ended weeks of uncertainty after the November 2015 inconclusive election.

The country's parliament approved the new government on 22 January.

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