The Bridge ( hr, Most), previously known as Bridge of Independent Lists ( hr, Most nezavisnih lista) until November 2020, is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

founded in 2012. The party is led by Božo Petrov, its founder and the former mayor of Metković,

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and speaker of the Croatian Parliament. Although the party leaders initially avoided ideological topics, The Bridge underwent through a rebranding prior to the

2020 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 5 July 2020. They were the tenth parliamentary elections since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and elected the 151 members of the Croatian Parliament. 140 Members of Parliament were elected ...

and established itself as a

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social instituti ...

party.

Origins

The Bridge of Independent Lists (Most) was founded in Metković on 17 November 2012 as a regionalist political platform. Božo Petrov was chosen as the first party president. In 2013, the Bridge of Independent Lists participated in the

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct v ...

in the town of Metković. The party won 46.25% of the votes, and 9 out of 17 seats in the City Council. Petrov won 45.78% of the votes and entered the second round of elections for the mayor against Stipe Gabrić Jambo, incumbent mayor since 1997. In the second round Petrov won with 67.94% of the votes and became the Mayor of Metković. At the same election, Most won 9.97% of the votes in county elections and entered the County Assembly of the

Dubrovnik-Neretva County The Dubrovnik-Neretva County (; hr, Dubrovačko-neretvanska županija, ) is the southernmost county of Croatia, located in south Dalmatia. The county seat is Dubrovnik and other large towns are Korčula, Metković, Opuzen and Ploče. The ...

2015 parliamentary election

For the 2015 parliamentary election the party went national and was joined by independent local politicians from other parts of the country. The party campaigned for

fiscal responsibility A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...

, reduction of government spending and public debt, tax cuts, reforms in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

and the reduction of

administrative divisions Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

in Croatia. The party supported an expansionary

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to control either the interest rate payable for federal funds, very short-term borrowing (borrowing by banks from each other to meet their short-term needs) or the money s ...

and monetary reforms that would include the Croatian National Bank introducing a low interest policy to foster economic growth. The party won 19 seats in the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sa ...

and came third behind the ruling centre-left Croatia is Growing coalition, led by the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP), and the centre-right opposition

Patriotic Coalition The Patriotic Coalition ( hr, Domoljubna koalicija) was a political alliance in Croatia formed in 2015. The parties signed the coalition agreement on 21 September 2015. On 2015 parliamentary election, coalition won a relative majority in 5 of th ...

, led by the

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Cr ...

(HDZ). Four MPs left Most in the aftermath of the election. When the 8th Parliament assembly was formed, Most had 15 MPs.

Government of Tihomir Orešković

After more than 40 days of negotiations and numerous turnarounds, Most decided to form a government with the Patriotic Coalition, giving them a slim majority of 78 seats. They nominated the

Croatian-Canadian Croatian Canadians are Canadian citizens who are of Croatian descent. The community exists in major cities including the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Windsor, Montreal and Waterloo Reg ...

businessman

Tihomir Orešković Tihomir "Tim" Orešković (; born 1 January 1966) is a Croatian Canadian businessman who was Prime Minister of Croatia from January to October 2016. Born in Zagreb, Orešković emigrated to Canada at a young age and spent most of his life there ...

to be the next Prime Minister of Croatia. The government cabinet was formed on 22 January 2016 and party president Božo Petrov was named Deputy Prime Minister, together with HDZ's president Tomislav Karamarko. Along with Petrov, six ministers in the new government were proposed by Most: Interior, Justice, Administration, Economy, Agriculture and Environment. The new government was marked by strained relations between Most and the Patriotic Coalition, particularly over the INA, Croatia's national oil company, and the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

. Several legislative proposals by the party were rejected by HDZ, including an amendment for reducing benefits of MPs, and the adoption of a new waste management plan. In May 2016 Most called for Karamarko's resignation over a conflict of interest, which the latter refused to do. After Orešković also requested his resignation, a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister was initiated by HDZ. Three MPs of Most sided with HDZ and later formed their own party. 125 MPs voted in favour, 15 voted against, and 2 abstained. Both the HDZ and most of the opposition voted in favour, while Most voted against.

2016 parliamentary election

Following the collapse of the Orešković government in June 2016, an attempt was made by the

to assemble a parliamentary majority which would support a new government, to be headed by

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

Zdravko Marić. This attempt failed, however, and the main opposition party in Parliament, the

Social Democratic Party of Croatia The Social Democratic Party of Croatia ( hr, Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske, SDP) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is anti-fascist, progressive, and strongly pro-European. The SDP was formed in 1990 as the succes ...

, began to gather signatures for an early dissolution of parliament so elections could be held by the end of the year. Following consultations within Most, its Members of Parliament agreed to sign the opposition's petition for an early dissolution, with the successful parliamentary vote on the issue taking place on 20 June 2016 and taking effect on 15 July 2016. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović set 11 September 2016 as the date on which elections were to be held. Most contested the early parliamentary election on its own and won 13 seats (with 9.91% of the vote), which was a decline of 6 seats compared to the previous parliamentary election (when Most won 19 seats with 13.17% of the vote). However if post-election changes in the MPs party membership are taken into account following the previous election, Most actually gained one seat more than it held on the day parliament was dissolved on 15 July 2016.

Government of Andrej Plenković

Following the announcement of parliamentary election results Most chairman Božo Petrov declared that Most would be open to negotiations with either one of the larger parties ( HDZ and SDP) if they accepted Most's seven conditions (a package of laws aimed at passing reforms in a series of fields).

Electoral performance

Legislative

The following is a summary of the party's results in legislative elections for the

Croatian parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sa ...

European Parliament

References

{{Authority control Conservative parties in Croatia Green conservative parties Centre-right parties in Europe 2012 establishments in Croatia Political parties established in 2012 Social conservative parties