April 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia's ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has kept its lead ahead of centre-left opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) in approval ratings for a second straight month this year in April, the results of a new opinion poll showed.
If parliamentary elections were held now, HDZ would receive 27.9% of the vote, up from March's 25.2%, while its main opponent SDP would garner 23.2% support, down from 23.7% in March, a survey conducted by Ipsos agency for Nova TV showed over the weekend. The survey was carried out between April 17 and 22 among 1,008 repondents, with a maximum margin of error of plus/minus 3.6%.
This is the second time since December that HDZ has returned to the top position in the monthly opinion polls conducted by Ipsos. In the first two months of 2019, HDZ was outrun by the opposition party, after the SDP candidate Zoran Milanovic won Croatia's presidential vote in January, defeating incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic backed by HDZ.
According to the survey, the only other political formations that would pass the 5.0% threshold if elections were held now, are the recently unveiled Homeland Movement (Domovinski Pokret) of musician Miroslav Skoro, who came third in the first round of the presidential elections, and whose support dropped to 10.5% in April from March's 12.5%, as well as the liberal Bridge of Independent Lists (Most), who backed Skoro in the presidential vote, with 5.1% support in April, up from March's 4.4%.
The next general election in Croatia is due by the end of 2020, with news daily Jutarnji List reporting on Sunday that according to unofficial information coming from unnamed HDZ sources, the vote could be organised as early as the beginning of July.
According to the Ipsos survey, the citizens' support to the government has soared to 60% in April, amidst the ongoing coronavirus crisis, from March's 37%, while the share of those who dislike it dropped to 34% from 51% a month earlier.