May 27 (SeeNews) - Ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won Sunday's European Parliament elections in the country as expected but it will have only four parliament seats, the same number as its biggest rival, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), data from the state electoral commission (DIP) showed on Monday.
The data is based on all votes counted, DIP said, adding that voter turnout was 29.85%, up from 25.24% in the previous European Parliament (EP) elections held in 2014.
HDZ won 22.72% of the votes, followed by SDP with 18.71%. Prior to the vote, most polling agencies predicted somewhat bigger gains for HDZ that would translate into five seats, along with somewhat smaller percentage for SDP that would give the party three seats.
Sunday's tight outcome, however, might put pressure on HDZ and its junior partners in the Croatian government coalition - national minority parties and the Bridge of Independent Lists (Most). The latter failed to grab the predicted one MEP seat on Sunday.
On the other hand, SDP's better-than-expected performance strengthens its position at home, considering this was the first time since 2011 it has run in elections independently, outside coalitions.
In the new European Parliament, Croatia will hold 11 seats, which will climb to 12 once the UK leaves the European Union. The country controls 11 seats in the outgoing parliament.
In the previous European elections in 2014, HDZ and SDP both competed as part of larger coalitions. Back then, the coalition around HDZ won six European Parliament seats (including four for HDZ), while the SDP-led alliance won four seats (two of them going to SDP) and one seat went to green centre-left Sustainable Development of Croatia (ORaH).
In Sunday's vote, third came right-wing Croatian Sovereignists (HRAST) with 8.52% and one seat. Fourth is the independent alliance around former judge Mislav Kolakusic, which has beaten expectations and is considered an election surprise with its 7.89% and one seat. Follow populist Zivi Zid with 5.66% and the newly-formed centre-left Amsterdam Coalition (AMS) with 5.19% - both securing one seat each. Those four parties will send their representative in the EP for the first time.
No other party, coalition nor independent candidate passed the 5%-threshold Croatia has set for the European elections.
This was the second time Croatians went to cast their vote in European elections after the country joined the EU in July 2013 under the governance of an SDP-led coalition.
Some 3.8 million Croatian voters were eligible to vote and choose among 396 candidates in Sunday's elections.
Croatia's European Commissioner in the outgoing Juncker-led Commission is SDP's Neven Mimica who is in charge of consumer protection.