Croatia to hold parliamentary election on April 17

Croatia will hold a parliamentary election on April 17. The country’s president on Friday scheduled the vote after parliament dissolved a day earlier. The ballot next month will pit ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union against a group of center and left-leaning parties who have announced they will run as an alliance. The HDZ party have faced mounting accusations of corruption from the opposition ahead of the ballot. Croatia is slated to hold a presidential election as well by the end of the year. The conservatives largely have held power since Croatia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.