Parliamentary elections will start in Croatia on Wednesday, as a result of which the country may have to abandon the pro-Western vector in a wide variety of issues, including helping Ukraine in the fight against Russia, writes The Guardian.
According to the British publication, polls show that the ruling Croatian Democratic Commonwealth, led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, risks losing its majority in parliament after the vote, losing ground under pressure from the coalition of leftists and centrists, which is unofficially headed by the country's president, Zoran Milanovic.
Despite a series of corruption scandals, the CDU was previously predicted to win a third in a row - but that all changed last month, when Milanovych suddenly challenged the movement. The move shocked the country and turned the upcoming election from a highly predictable race into a bitter rivalry.
The escalation did not stop even the decision of the Constitutional Court of Croatia, which eventually banned Milanović from running, ruling that the president cannot participate in party events without resigning. Milanovich, calling the judges illiterate "peasants", continued to participate in campaign events against the CDU.
As The Guardian reminds, the president, among other things, opposes further aid to Kyiv. This has already given rise to fears that if he wins the elections and becomes prime minister, the country may join the "friends of Moscow in the EU" camp, where Hungary and Slovakia have already joined.
