Croatian PM Sanader Survives No-Confidence Vote

"I affirm that the proposal did not get the needed majority and that Prime Minister Ivo Sanader still holds the trust of the Croatian parliament," Seks said in a live TV broadcast from the chamber.

Fifty-three members of parliament voted to support the no-confidence motion, one abstained and 75 voted against. The motion needed the support of 77 members of the 153-seat chamber to succeed.

The centre-right coalition government dominated by Sanader’s Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has an absolute majority in parliament. This is the first no-confidence motion against a member of the current cabinet which took office in the middle of January this year.

In its motives for the vote the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said Sanader was most responsible for what the party says are Croatia's poor public safety record, a bad economic situation, declining living standards and inefficiency in the country's integration with the European Union.

Sanader was present only at the beginning of the nine-hour debate on the motion in parliament and said the opposition's reasons for the no-confidence vote are groundless. 

Opposition leader Zoran Milanovic said Sanader has not said a single word about the country's public safety record.

European Union candidate Croatia is fighting corruption and organized crime to remain on track for wrapping up accession talks with the European Union next year. The Adriatic country started membership negotiations in October 2005 and hopes to join the bloc around 2011.