There is less than a month left until the parliamentary elections in Croatia. Since the announcement of President Zoran Milanović's candidacy for the position of prime minister, there have been avalanches of reactions, as well as the decision of the Constitutional Court that Milanović cannot be on the electoral list.
Political analyst Žarko Puhovski tells "Vreme" that Milanović's unconstitutional candidacy is a desperate act that points to a problem in the country.
"This is not only about the fact that Milanović is a man who behaves like a hooligan in politics, but also that this hooligan act corresponds to the feeling of a significant number of people that the situation in the country is seriously disturbed. That's why the phrase 'on a hot wound, hot grass' appears", explains Puhovski.
He says for "Vreme" that there is no need for such "cowardly measures".
"On the one hand, Milanović appears as a macho savior, and on the other, he must not resign first and then take risks." With the explanation that his resignation would mean that the HDZ has both levers of power in its hands until the elections, so both the government and the state", he adds.
At the same time, says Puhovski, there has never been a smaller substantive or programmatic difference between HDZ and SDP.
"I wish I was the main one"
"So it's about 'who wants whom', and I can't explain to us what the important political difference is." Milanović and Plenković as President of the State and Prime Minister have been in conflict for three years, day and night. Including the explosions of until recently inconceivable simpletons. But we cannot say that anyone is more liberal or more or less centralist. It's simply about that famous song by Djuza Stoiljković from the Theater in the House '...but I wish I was the main one,'" says Puhovski.
The interlocutor of "Vremena" explains that the whole of Croatia has become a hostage to Milanović's and Plenković's conflict, which will continue to intensify. What is changing, he says, is that no one expected until five days ago that the election race could be tied.
"At the same time, Milanović destroyed the SDP as a major party with his move." He appeared at a conference that was supposed to be led by the party's president, Peđa Grbin. He simply removed it and said now I am the candidate for prime minister, even though they had already made the decision on the page that Grbin was the candidate. That decision has never been changed, but now it is simply as Milanović said," says Puhovski.
He adds that Milanović damaged that party with political failure and losing the election, but also by pushing it radically to the right.
Parallel with Serbia
When drawing a parallel with the political events in the region, Puhovski says that unlike Serbia, in Croatia there is a possibility that another party will come to power.
"In Serbia, as far as I understand, that was not a realistic option at any time." Vučić has the majority with him, and here it is not certain that the HDZ has it. The situation is probably very close, which means that many details can be decided until the last hour. Even what the weather will be like on election day", he says.
It is also interesting, he says, that Milanović decided for the first time, after the 2000s, that the elections would be held on a working day, on Wednesday.
"It is a big inaccuracy. First, as the president of the state, he decided when the elections would be held, and then that he would participate in them. It's like the referee blowing his whistle to mark the start of the game, and after that he starts playing with one of the teams", explains Puhovski.
Parliamentary elections in Croatia were originally planned for autumn, but the government decided to hold them before the elections for the European Parliament in June, so they were scheduled for April 17.
