ZAGREB, June 24, 2019 – Zoran Milanović who is running in the presidential race on behalf of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), entered the campaign entirely unprepared and did not show any political will or ideas of what he would do as the country’s president whereas Miroslav Škoro, very convincingly presented his concept of reforms to the Constitution which would give the president more powers and is perceived by two analysts as a much better candidate for playing play a conciliatory role.
“Zoran Milanović entered the campaign completely unprepared without any new ideas and without any announcements of what his objectives as president would be. Unlike him, Miroslav Škoro very convincingly presented his concept of reforming the Constitution which would strengthen the role of the president,” political analyst Davor Gjenero told Hina.
He underscored that the concept of “plebiscitary democracy” that Škoro is offering is de Gaulle’s concept of ruling, to which the model of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic was adapted to and Croatia’s Constitution on the most part emerged on the example of that model.
Gjenero briefly commented on Milanović saying that it seems that his candidacy is “a mere attempt to escape from the hard work in the business sector where he didn’t achieve any great success.”
Analyst Žarko Puhovski agreed with Gjenero saying that Milanović believes that his person and personality are enough of a platform for the presidential race. “The problem is that he is implicitly saying something similar to Škoro because our Constitution does not need a president with a strong personality. Our system requires a president as a mediator and conciliator and that is not a role that can be associated with Zoran Milanović,” Puhovski told Hina.
He believes Škoro could have that role because he has shown to be polite and always rejects any radical formations and in that regard he could be a better candidate as a conciliator.
As far as the incumbent president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is concerned and her role as a conciliator, Puhovski thinks that she has been wandering – “she was very right and then a little in the centre and now is on the right again.” “That is not conciliation. She did not show enough resoluteness. That is why Milanović’s motto of a President with Character, is more a polemic with Grabar-Kitarović who did not show sufficient character,” Puhovski said.
He said that Škoro is more or less a new face on the political scene but in fact represents Tudjman’s old platform for the 21st century “but in a milder and less staunch way, because these are different times.”
“That is a populist platform. Populism today is the latest fad and Škoro is in the know of what is happening in large world centres.”
On the other hand, Puhovski thinks that Milanović is the man the left wants yet he does not want to be a candidate for the left unlike Grabar-Kitarović who wants to be the candidate for the right but the right does not want her.
More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.
