ZAGREB, June 5, 2019 – One of the three parliamentary deputies of Živi Zid, Ivan Pernar, said on Wednesday that he would leave this Opposition party if his colleague Branimir Bunjac was ousted.
Pernar’s statement ensued after party leader Ivan Vilibor Sinčić on Tuesday said that MP Bunjac had been suspended for not sticking to the party’s strategy in the recent European elections and to the agreement than none of the party’s MPs would go to the European Parliament.
Pernar today appealed for a reasonable solution to the intra-party crisis, and underscored that he was against seeking solutions through media. “I think that that is counterproductive. I condemn those who organised yesterday’s news conference in Zrinjevac Park to vilify Bunjac,” Pernar told the press in the parliament.
Asked by reporters whether this would usher in the collapse of Živi Zid, Pernar said that it did not depend on him.
He went on to say that only one person could decide on it, alluding to Sinčić’s wife, Vladimira Palfi, whom he previously accused of pulling all the strings in the party. Today, however, Pernar stopped short of naming her explicitly.
He reiterated that he would not leave the party as long as Bunjac was one of the party’s parliamentary deputies.
As soon as Bunjac is removed from the parliament, I will leave the party, he said.
In the meantime, a video has appeared about Živi Zid officials meeting in a flat, with Bunjac nearly getting into a fight with party member Dominik Vuletić. The bone of contention seemed to be who would fill the sole seat in the European Parliament the party has won.
Sinčić said on Tuesday that the idea had been to rotate five low-profile party members in the European Parliament, but that since the deal was thwarted, they decided that Sinčić would go to the EP and stay there until the next parliamentary election in Croatia.
Sinčić said that Bunjac “sees himself in the European Parliament” and was against Sinčić’s proposal that Tihomir Lukanić might be the MEP of Živi Zid.
Pernar today criticised the release of the video as an attempt to besmirch Bunjac’s reputation.
More news about Živi Zid can be found in the Politics section.
