In the past couple of weeks, there have been elections at (almost) opposite ends of the former Yugoslavia: Croatia in the north and the quasi-state of Kosovo in the south.
The Croatian result is yet another photo finish. (We sure have had a lot of those around the world in recent years!)
The party of incumbent PM Ivo Sanader, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has won 61 seats (39.9%), sixteen short of a majority.
The second largest party is the Social Democrats (SPD), with 56.
The HDZ apparently can count on 5 deputies elected by Croatians abroad. The SPD has likely allies in two smaller parties that combine for another 11 seats.
So that makes 66 for HDZ + allies and 67 for SPD + allies. Still not quite there.
The third largest party is the Liberal-Peasants alliance (sounds interesting!), with 8 deputies and a desire to be in government in exchange for porcine-sounding concessions to “regional development.” This alliance’s caucus would bring either bloc’s total close to majority status, but still not quite. There are 12 other deputies from various smaller parties. The Liberal-Peasants have said they will talk to Sanader first.
Meanwhile, in Kosovo:
Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo won 36 percent of the vote, defeating the Democratic League of Kosovo, which had controlled parliament and the province’s governing administration for several years, election official said.
But Thaci’s party was widely expected to seek a power-sharing deal with the Democratic League, which came in second with 21 percent of the vote.
(Hmmm, that would imply that the Democratic League was not exactly “defeated,” as the AP reporter wrote. However, they had over 45% in 2004 and 2001, so this was indeed quite a tumble.)
The Russian government, which opposes the near inevitable independence of Kosovo (or, as it would be, Kosova) from Seribia, is less than thrilled by the Albanian majority’s exercise of its democratic rights.
Both jurisdictions use PR systems, though I am unsure of the details.
Kosovo: 100 seats in one ‘nation’wide district by Webster/Sainte-Lague and a (new) legal threshold of 5% (in 2001 and 2004 the effective threshold was 0.5%). In addition 20 seats are apportioned to lists of ethnic minorities: 10 Serbs (boycotted the 2004 and 2007 elections) and 10 others.
Croatia:
(1) 10 districts of 14 seats by D’Hondt and a legal threshold of 5% (the effective threshold is slightly higher)
(2) an 11th district for Croatians abroad (mainly HDZ-voters, boycotted by many other parties). The exact number of seats is determined in proportion to the turnout in the 11th district compared to the 140 seats for the voters in the 10 other distrcits. (In 2007 possibly 5 seats)
(3) 8 seats for individual candidates from ethnic minorities (’12th district’): 3 Serbs and 5 others.
Seed planted by Bancki — 28 November 2007 @ 08:27
Thanks, Bancki. Croatia was formerly MMM, but I knew it had abandoned the mix for pure PR. Was not sure of the districting or other details. Croatia also in recent years has abandoned the president-parliamentary mix in favor of a premier-presidential system (i.e. still a president who is not quite ceremonial, but has very little or no discretion in selecting a government.
One more important detail that I do not know for either case: Open or closed lists?
Seed planted by MSS — 30 November 2007 @ 16:04