ZAGREB, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Croatia's biggest opposition party the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has gained more support than the ruling center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) for the first time since the 2016 election, latest opinion poll published on Tuesday shows.
According to the CroElecto survey, SDP enjoys the support of 23.32 percent of voters, while the ruling HDZ has 21.20 percent. Former judge Mislav Kolakusic, whose independent slate surprisingly won one seat in the European Parliament elections in May, is currently the third political force in the country, with 2.94 percent support.
The latest opinion poll shows a drop of support for many small parties and a big number of undecided voters. Almost 30 percent of the respondents didn't know who they would vote for at the next election.
The fall of the ruling HDZ party is happening at the time of the government crisis. In just one week two ministers resigned over alleged suspicious property deals and real estate scandals. Public Administrative Minister and the HDZ political secretary Lovro Kuscevic stepped down on July 8 over allegations that he used his public duty for personal benefits, while a week later the State Asset minister Goran Maric resigned on Monday after media revealed his murky property deals.
According to the survey, HDZ's voters are not satisfied with the party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. Although half of their voters didn't want to answer the question regarding the leadership of the ruling party president, 29 percent of HDZ's voters said that they don't support him, while only 21 percent are happy with the way the party goes.
