Milanović is the first victim of Sunday’s elections.
After Sunday’s election results, which brought a defeat to SDP and its coalition partners, SDP president Zoran Milanović announced that he would not run for another term as party president.
“After yesterday’s results, I have decided I would not run for another term as SDP president. The intraparty elections are scheduled to be held within 150 days after parliamentary elections. I will not take part in the elections in any way. The Main Committee will call the party elections, and I think they should be held as soon as possible, due to local elections in 2017”, said Milanović.
“At yesterday’s elections, the turnout was very low. People decided not to vote, or at least they did not decided to vote. That is the fact, and we have to deal with it. I would like to thank everybody who voted for us. That is how it is”, added Milanović.
“We need to be realistic, but I do not think that the next government will be stable. I want the government to be stable, because that is the most important institution for economic development, budget, internal and foreign affairs. We have had unstable situation for the last eight months”, said Milanović.
He said that grand coalition with HDZ is out of question. “I will be ready to congratulate HDZ president Plenković when he and his associates apologize for insults that we protected formed members of Yugoslav secret services, which is not true.”
“As for internal party elections, I will be impartial. We need a strong and energetic leader, some who will fight against prejudices and false morals, someone who will fight for a common man. Croatia is a society which is going through a change, people are fed up, and fewer people vote”, said Milanović.
“It is important to have a clear stance and to fight for our voters who are very sensitive. Standard for us are not the same, our standards are higher, and that will continue. Chances for our negotiations to form a government to succeed are very small. We are unlikely to produce a stable and responsible government. We have not discussed the grand coalition”, said Milanović.
“After ten years in politics, I will think about what I will do in the future. Leftwing parties have never fallen below 30 percent of votes. Croatia is not like Hungary or Poland, where social-democratic parties have disappeared. Croatia is different. I am personally responsible for this result. I have always said that when thing go wrong I am guilty and when things go right then everybody is responsible for success”, concluded Milanović.
