June 29 (SeeNews) - The governing centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) continues to lead opinion polls ahead of the July 5 general elections, remaining ahead of the Restart Coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the results of a new survey showed.
If parliamentary elections were held now, HDZ would receive 26.7% of the vote, down from May's 28%, while the Restart Coalition would garner 24.6% support, down from 24.9%, a survey conducted by Ipsos agency for Nova TV showed late on Friday. The survey was conducted June 22-24 among 978 respondents, with a maximum margin of error of plus/minus 3.3%.
June is the fourth month in a row that HDZ leads opinion polls. In the first two months of 2020, HDZ was outrun by SDP, after SDP candidate Zoran Milanovic won the presidential vote in January, defeating incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic backed by HDZ.
The Restart Coalition was established in May by 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). Since then, several other smaller parties have joined the coalition.
According to the June poll, third is the Homeland Movement (Domovinski Pokret) of musician Miroslav Skoro, who came in third in the first round of the presidential elections, and its two partners - the conservative Croatian Suverenists and the recently formed Bloc for Croatia. They would attract the support of 11.1% of the voters, down from May's 13.5%.
The only other political formations that would pass the 5.0% threshold for entry into parliament if elections were held now, is the liberal Bridge of Independent Lists (Most), who backed Skoro in the presidential vote but is competing independently in the general elections, with 6.8% support in June, up from May's 4.8%.