Croatia's parliament dissolved itself on Thursday on the initiative of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's government in order to pave the way for early elections by May 12.
All 143 lawmakers present from both the ruling party and the opposition in the 151-seat parliament voted in favour of the move, Croatian media reported. The next parliamentary elections had originally been scheduled for autumn.
Shortly beforehand, the parliament had passed a controversial law against whistleblowers under pressure from Plenković. The opposition fears that this is intended to cover up corruption by politicians from Plenković's camp.
Critics believe that the prime minister wants to bring the elections forward because he fears that the popularity of his centre-right HDZ party will have declined by then.
Plenković has been heavily criticized recently for his justice and media policies, with only a narrow majority of lawmakers backing him.
It was not initially clear when the early elections would take place. They could be scheduled for April 14 at the earliest or May 12 at the latest.
The date will be decided by President Zoran Milanović. The pro-Russian politician is a bitter political enemy of Plenković, considered to be pro-Western. The presidential election is also due at the end of this year.
The bill targeting whistleblowers has been discussed in Croatia for months and has been criticized by the Council of Europe, Europe’s top human rights watchdog.
Following protests from journalists' associations and opposition supporters, a passage in the original draft law that would have allowed for journalists to be prosecuted for publishing information received from whistleblowers was removed.
However, critics say that their work could still be hindered by the threat of punishment for whistleblowers. The new legislation is popularly known as "Lex AP," after the initials in the name the prime minister.
The opposition accuses Plenković of wanting to encourage the covering-up of corrupt dealings by his party colleagues. He has also recently faced increasing criticism over the relationship between his government and the judiciary. At the beginning of February, parliament elected the controversial lawyer Ivan Turudić as chief public prosecutor, at Plenković's instigation.
Turudić, until then a judge at the Supreme Criminal Court, is accused of having been in friendly contact with several people suspected of corruption, according to leaked information from investigation files. All of Croatia's constitutional judges stayed away from Turudić's swearing-in ceremony in parliament on Wednesday in protest.
