Croatian conservatives have declared victory in the country’sparliamentary elections, but face a challenge to form a government.
Partial results show the HDZ party is to win about 60 seats, with more than 50 for the ruling alliance led by the Social Democrats.
The conservatives are now expected to enter talks to form a coalition.
Refugee crisis was one of the main issues. More than 320,000 refugees have passed through Croatia this year.
“The victory brought us responsibility to lead our country, which is in a difficult situation,” HDZ leader Tomislav Karamarko told supporters.
“Whoever wants to fight with us for the quality of life in Croatia is welcome.”
Photo AFP
The big winner looks to be the third force in the election – an alliance of independent candidates known as Most (Bridge), which is expected to claim about 19 seats.
However, Most said before the vote it would not join either main coalition.
The two alliances have promised different approaches on how to handle the arrival of more refugees and migrants.
Croatia has become a transit hub for refugees, many from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, who want to travel north.
Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said this week that 320,000 refugees had passed through the country so far this year.
The cost of managing the arrivals was close to 2 million kuna ($284,000) a day, he said.
Numbers increased when Hungary shut its border with Serbia, forcing more people to seek an alternative route north through Croatia.
Croatian PM Zoran Milanovic and his Social Democrats (SDP) won approval for their compassionate handling of the refugee crisis.
Tomislav Karamarko has suggested using troops and fences to reduce the number of arrivals.
The election was Croatia’s first since it joined the EU in 2013.
British people are expected to head to polling stations to cast their votes in the UK general election.
The voters will elect the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom after the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 led to the mandated dissolution of the 55th Parliament on March 30, 2015.
There are also local elections scheduled to take place on the same day across most of England, with the exception of Greater London.
Polls open at 07:00 BST on Thursday, May 7, at around 50,000 polling stations across the UK.
A total of 650 Westminster Members of Parliament (MPs) will be elected for the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament, with about 50 million people registered to vote.
As well as the general election, there are more than 9,000 council seats being contested across 279 English local authorities.
Mayors will also be elected in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and Torbay.
This means that nearly every voter in England – excluding London where there are no local elections – will be given at least two ballot papers when they enter polling stations.
Some votes have already been cast, through postal voting, which accounted for 15% of the total electorate at the 2010 general election, when the overall turnout was 65%.
For the first time, people have been able to register to vote online.
Most polling stations are in schools, community centres and parish halls, but pubs, a launderette and a school bus will also be used.
A handful of seats are expected to be declared by midnight, with the final results expected on Friday afternoon, May 8.
Polls close at 22:00 BST, but officials say anyone in a polling station queue at this time should be able to cast their vote.
Seven parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, UKIP, SNP, PC and Green) participated in the election leadership debates.
The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest parties since 1922, and have supplied all UK prime ministers since that date. Polls predict that these parties will receive between 65-75% of the votes and win 80-85% of seats between them and that as such the leader of one of these parities will be the prime minister after the election.
The Economist described a “familiar two-and-a-half-party system” (Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats) that “appears to be breaking down” with the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), the Greens and the Scottish National Party (SNP).
Analysts say that there will be no overall majority, but that PM David Cameron’s Conservatives will be the largest party with more than 280 seats.
Republican Rick Perry will make the formal announcement on Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina.[googlead tip=”patrat_mic” aliniat=”dreapta”]
The Republican Rick Perry will officially announce his candidacy on Saturday, August 13, said Washington Times after information was provided exclusively by Carl Cameron from Fox News, known as having a hostile position to the current president, Barack Obama.
He will make his announcement in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is scheduled to speak at an annual conference of conservative bloggers.
Republican Texas Governor, Rick Perry is running for the US presidential race.
Rick Perry will then travel to New Hampshire and on to Iowa Sunday — hitting 3 of the first 4 states to hold nominating contests next year.
Rick Perry makes his entrance about six months before the Iowa caucuses, the traditional kickoff of the nominating season (the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States). Iowa is scheduled to be followed by New Hampshire’s primary, Nevada’s caucuses and South Carolina’s primary, though several other states are considering moves to jump ahead in the line.
The rest of the field has been assembled in Iowa for Thursday night’s nationally televised debate, Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll, the Iowa State Fair, which runs for 11 days and is a traditional hot spot for meeting voters and mugging for cameras.
[googlead tip=”vertical_mic”] Rick Perry’s presidential nomination is expected to fundamentally reshape the race and divert attention from other contenders, many of whom will be competing this weekend in the Iowa Straw Poll.
Being now in his 11th year as Texas governor, Rick Perry could fill the void some party activists see and could unify social and economic conservatives in the “Grand Old Party” (GOP a traditional nickname for the Republican Party)
“This is about electing a true conservative leader with a real record of job creation as our next president,” said Scott Rials, executive director of “Make Us Great Again”, one of the several pro-Perry political action committees that have formed to raise and spend money independently of Rick Perry’s campaign.
“Governor Rick Perry is our best qualified candidate to win back the White House and get our economy back on track.”
“Contrary to written reports that Governor Perry would use his Charleston speech on Saturday to announce his intention to run, he will tell the influential red state gathering … that he has entered the contest,” Rick Perry’s campaign strategist, David Carney told The Washington Times on Thursday.
In a preview of the Perry campaign’s emphasis, David Carney hailed the three-term governor as someone “known by many as America’s jobs governor.”
Carney, who was chief strategist for Rick Perry last year when he defeated Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in Texas’ gubernatorial primary, said the Perry record stands “in perfect contrast to the current occupant of the White House, whose administration has appeared to be flailing around, trying to deal with economic woes for months.”
The GOP’s move also adds another target for President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee, which had invested time in trying to discredit former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, whose polls show he is the front-runner in the field.
Conservatives were pleased with Rick Perry’s pending announcement.
“I think Governor Perry entering the race will solidify conservatives,” Dr. Randy Brinson, an Alabama gastroenterologist and founder of Rock the Vote, told The Washington Times.
“Romney will hope for a perilous split due to the large number of social conservatives in the race but history shows it will not occur as Romney strategists think.”
“Perry travels to Alabama and the key state of South Carolina to line up solid support over the weekend,” said Dr. Brinson, who is considered a major force in conservative politics in the South.
“Obvious strategy is to anchor South Carolina which is the make-or-break state for all Republican presidential contenders.”
Kirsten Gray, Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman, who disputed Rick Perry’s activity claims by saying he fought for a budget that would lay off thousands of state workers, said:
“Not surprising Rick Perry is making his announcement in South Carolina instead of Texas — there’s nowhere in the Lone Star State he could announce without an angry mob showing up.”
[googlead tip=”lista_medie” aliniat=”stanga”]According to the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls, Mitt Romney leads Rick Perry 20.4% to 15.4%. Former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, who has not announced a candidacy, places third, in a near-tie with Republican Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, an announced candidate who polls fourth.
Rick Perry did not seek space at the straw poll, though his announcement Saturday could fuel a write-in campaign there.
On Thursday, Mitt Romney was heckled by liberal activists as he delivered a soapbox speech at the Iowa fair.
"I’m not going to raise taxes. That’s my answer. If you want someone to raise taxes, you can vote for Barack Obama," said Mitt Romney to the liberal hecklers at Iowa fair.
“You ready for my answer? I’m not going to raise taxes. That’s my answer. If you want someone to raise taxes, you can vote for Barack Obama,“
Mitt Romney told the hecklers.
Rick Perry’s entry makes him the first sitting governor in the race, the field having a handful of former governors.
Winning the presidency by Perry would mean for Republicans to return to the power after the defeat of George W. Bush in 2008.
Last May, Washington Times wrote that Governor Rick Perry is capable to attract not only among Republican voters, but also from conservatives, independents and even Obama’s Democrats.
The first sign that he could run for US presidency was in June 2011, when he was invited to a Fox News show and said:
“I am thinking seriously about it.”
[youtube g9e-_b2fchQ]
Rick Perry is the Texas Governor since 2000, when he ascended from the lieutenant governorship after George W. Bush won the White House.
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