ZAGREB, September 3, 2018 – Darko Milinović, a member of the presidency of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and candidate for leader of the party’s Lika-Senj County branch, has been expelled from the HDZ, the party’s ethics committee decided on Monday.
The decision came after the HDZ presidency took disciplinary action against Milinović for a grave breach of membership obligations.
Milinović acted against the party’s fundamental values and principles and caused damage to its reputation and political interests by organising a protest rally outside HDZ headquarters in Zagreb on August 29 involving about 100 party members from Gospić, the HDZ said in a statement.
Last Thursday, the HDZ presidency initiated disciplinary proceedings against Milinović for causing political damage to the party. Of 29 presidency members who participated in the vote, 27 voted in favour of taking disciplinary action, one was against and one abstained from the vote.
On Friday, Milinović said he was convinced the party wouldn’t expel him and in that way prevent him from running in a party election in Lika-Senj County, likely to be held in September.
He denied he would join the opposition against Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. “That doesn’t correspond to my statement that I will go back into parliament and that I won’t support Plenković, but I won’t raise my hand unconditionally,” Milinović told reporters recently.
