November 13 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government said it has survived a no-confidence vote in the early hours of Saturday, which the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) demanded over the way the government has handled the financial crisis in the country's largest company, Agrokor.
"We will not hesitate in implementing our programme, advocating for a better quality of life for the Croatian people, and the continuation of reforms and positive trends in the Croatian society," prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said in a statement issued on Saturday after the vote.
In the vote, preceded by a 12-hour debate, 78 members of the 151-seat parliament backed Plenkovic and his government, while 59 supported the censure motion.
In early November, SDP leader Davor Bernardic submitted a motion for a non-confidence vote in the government over its treatment of the Agrokor crisis.
"SDP wants to untangle the corruption octopus, the conspiracy and cesspool, in which the Plenkovic cabinet has found itself because of the Agrokor case," Bernardic said at the time.
The debt crisis in Croatia's largest food-to-retail conglomerate, which employs some 60,000 people throughout the region, has stirred political turbulence in the country.
The previous government coalition consisting of HDZ and their junior partner, centre-right MOST party, fell apart earlier this year after MOST's ministers were sacked from the cabinet for refusing to support finance minister, Zdravko Maric, against whom the opposition had filed a no-confidence motion.
SDP sought the vote of no-confidence in Maric over his handling of the crisis in Agrokor, his former place of employment. The no-confidence motion was also backed by MOST and its leader, Bozo Petrov.
Maric narrowly survived the vote and Petrov resigned from the post of parliament speaker.
After the HDZ-MOST government coalition fell apart, HDZ formed a new one - with liberal People's Party, HNS.