June 8 (SeeNews) - The Restart Coalition led by Croatian opposition centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) has overtaken by popularity the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) ahead of the July 5 elections, a recent opinion poll shows.
If elections were held now, the newly-established Restart Coalition would win 27.2% versus 26.6% for HDZ, a survey conducted by Promocija Plus agency for public broadcaster RTL Hrvatska showed on Sunday. The survey, carried out during June 2-5 among 1,300 people, has a margin of error of plus/minus 2.77%.
However, this month's support for the coalition is below last month's 27.8% support for SDP alone, while the support for HDZ has dropped from May's 30.2%.
The Restart Coalition, established last month, comprises SDP, the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU), the People's and Civic Engagement Party (Snaga) and the Civic Liberal Alliance (GLAS). Last week, the regional centre-left Istrian Democratic Assembly, IDS, joined the coalition but the opinion poll was carried out earlier.
According to the June survey, the Homeland Movement (Domovinski Pokret), a political formation led by musician Miroslav Skoro, remains third with 13.5% backing, up from May's 10.1%.
The Homeland Movement has joined forces for next month's elections with the right-wing coalition of Croatian sovereignists, Hrvatski Suverenisti, established in November 2019.
No other party or coalition will pass the 5%-election threshold, according to polls.
According to the survey, prime minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic enjoys the highest approval rankings among Croatian politicians - 19.4%, down from 20.0% a month earlier.
He is followed by president Milanovic with 15.3% support, down from 18.6%, and health minister Vili Beros with 8.1%, down from 15.4% in May.