Croatian Democratic Union

"When you put someone on the list who is engaged, and who has dealt with both some social issues and kind of activism, it's one thing; it's another when you put [on the lists] people who are just celebrities," she said.

Singers find their political voice in Croatia

Despite harsh words, the Bosniak-Croat power tandem of SDA and HDZ is expected to survive a corruption scandal involving Chinese ventilators, analysts say.

The opposition in parliament in Bosnia's Federation entity has called for the dismissal of the government led by caretaker Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, who was detained for three days as a suspect in an investigation into the purchase of allegedly overpriced Chinese respirators.

The government stressed the need to create new jobs and reduce unemployment, and for demographic renewal - which it was planning to assist by offering financial compensation to parents of newborn children.

Tandem

As tensions continue to rage within Montenegro between the Government and supporters of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has voiced only moderate criticism of what is going on in the neighbouring country. Strange, for a man who seeks to position himself as the champion of Serbs in the region.

Neither of Croatia's two main parties looks like winning an outright majority in an election in July, leading to a likely alliance between the centre-right HDZ and a nationalist bloc led by a famous folk singer.

The Croatian parliament was dissolved on Monday on the proposal last week of six parliamentary clubs of the ruling majority, led by the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union HDZ, whose ratings have risen in the coronavirus epidemic.

The resounding nature of Plenkovic's victory, however, glosses over internal divisions that plagued the conservative HDZ leading up to this race.

Two former politicians, Luka Bebic and Andrija Hebrang, members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, told Zagreb County Court on Monday that they only learned from the media that the defendant, Branimir Glavas, had been involved in war crimes against Serbian civilians in the eastern city of Osijek in 1991.

"There is no external pressure to encourage change; the [European] Commission, for example, has abolished the anti-corruption reports it once had."

Responsibility for the fight, Ivkovic Novokmet said, had fallen on institutions now firmly in the hands of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, in power since January 2016.