Croatian parliament to elect new speaker on Monday

Croatian new parliament will hold its inaugural meeting on Monday to elect a new speaker after a non-partisan prime minister was nominated following six weeks of consultations among parties.

The first session, convened by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, will elect a new speaker of the 151-seat legislature, which means that the new parliament has formally been constituted, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) "Patriotic Coalition" won 59 seats in the elections held on November 8, and the third-placed party, Bridge, which won 15 seats, have agreed to name Zeljko Reiner, a member of the HDZ, as the candidate of the speaker, while the coalition "Croatia Is Growing", led by Social Democratic Party (SDP), which has 56 seats in the parliament, did not propose its candidate.

Monday's meeting will be the second attempt after the first one failed on December 3 when the only candidate for the speaker refused the nomination.

The speaker of parliament is elected by a simple majority according to Croatian constitution.