The new, 11th Croatian Parliament has fewer political parties and party groups than the previous one, in which 24 parties were represented and there were 16 party groups, while the new Parliament has 20 parties and 14 party groups.

Of the 16 party groups in the 10th parliament, five were members of the ruling coalition and 11 were opposition caucuses, while in the new parliament four of the 14 groups are members of the parliamentary majority, nine are opposition groups and there is one group representing ethnic minorities, which brings together members of both the parliamentary majority and the opposition.

In addition to the caucuses of the HDZ and the Domovinski pokret (DP) parties, led by Ante Sanader and Igor Peternel respectively, the parliamentary majority also includes a caucus of the Croatian People’s Party (HNS) and independent MPs, led by minority MP Armin Hodzic, and a caucus of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and independent MP Vladimir Bilek, led by Dario Hrebak.

The nine opposition caucuses are the Social Democratic Party (SDP) caucus led by Pedja Grbin, the Mozemo caucus led by Sandra Bencic, the Most Party caucus led by Bozo Petrov and the Centar party and Independent Platform North caucus led by Marijana Puljak. The parliamentary group of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), GLAS, DO and SSIP is led by Anka Mrak-Taritas, while the parliamentary group of the Croatian Sovereignists, PIP and independent MP Josip Jurcevic is led by Marijan Pavlicek.

Dalibor Paus heads the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party of Istria (IDS), Primorje-Gorski Kotar Union and Istrian Pensioners Party. The caucus of Fokus-Independents is led by Nino Raspudic, while the caucus of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) is led by Milorad Pupovac, who confirmed to Croatian news agency Hina that the SDSS caucus is no longer part of the parliamentary majority and is in opposition.

The Ethnic Minority caucus, led by Vladimir Bilke, is in an unusual situation as it unites all eight minority MPs, including the SDSS, which ended up in the opposition because the HDZ’s junior coalition partner, the Domovinski pokret, did not want it in the parliamentary majority, while its other members are part of the parliamentary majority.

Vesna Vucemilovic, who won a seat as a member of the Croatian Sovereignists but left the party after the election and is now an independent MP, is not a member of any of the parliamentary groups for the time being.

She told Hina that she plans to form a caucus with independent MP Željko Lackovic, who is in the Domovinski pokret caucus but has announced the formation of a “twin group”. However, he added that they are still looking for a third member, which means that the number of 14 groups in the new parliament is not final.