Almost all new members of the main party bodies are people supporting the current SDP president.
On Saturday, SDP held its election convention where it elected 17 members of the party Presidency and 103 members of the Main Committee, reports Večernji List on April 17, 2016.
Supporters of Zoran Milanović achieved a landslide victory. As expected, his supporters will have an overwhelming vast majority in both the Main Committee and the Presidency.
The only somewhat surprising results occurred during the election for four party vice-presidents. Two of them (Ranko Ostojić and Milanka Opačić) are Milanović’s supporters, while the other two (Davor Bernardić and Tonino Picula) are supporters of Zlatko Komadina, who was Milanović’s opponent at recent elections for party president.
Of the 17 members of the party presidency, only three supported Komadina during the elections (Davor Bernardić, Tonino Picula and Davorko Vidović). The other 14 members of the Presidency are Milanović’s advocates.
At the beginning of the convention, Milanović addressed the delegates. He said that SDP was currently the only social democratic party in central Europe which, in this climate of conservative regression, had kept its reputation among voters. He also talked about Zlatko Komadina, who two weeks ago was defeated in the elections for party president. “My colleague Komadina won 40 percent of the vote. That is a lot of votes”, said Milanović.
“SDP is defending and developing social democracy and there is no doubt which values we represent. I am unable to see any major differences between us in terms of values and worldview. We strive for a society in which everyone has a right to be what they are and think for themselves”, said Milanović.
“I promise that we will not be in opposition for long! At this moment we do not have a real government in Croatia, so we cannot be in opposition. We will return to power. The current government is not doing its job”, said Milanović, adding that voters on the right “were also their people and that the party has to try to reach out to them”.
