ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 – Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) leader Kreso Beljak was reelected president of this parliamentary party during Thursday’s intra-party election convention.
Out of the 965 delegates who were eligible to vote in the election, 610 took part, and of the 508 voted for Beljak, while his rival, Zeljko Lenart, who is the HSS secretary-general, won 101 votes. One ballot was invalid.
Beljak and Lenart are the only two HSS parliamentary deputies in the new, 10th national legislature.
Upon the declaration of the results on Thursday evening, Beljak said that he was aware that the HSS had scored poor results in the 5 July parliamentary elections, and admitted that it was partly his fault.
“I will do my best to make sure that mistakes from the past will not be repeated.”
He also promised the improvement of his public discourse and the defusion of tensions within the party.
As for those party members who contested the legality of the election convention, Beljak said that anybody who had doubts about the regularity can report that to competent bodies.
This is their right, however, it is sad that they express those doubts in statements to media. There has been enough quarreling in the HSS, he said and added that the HSS should adhere to its slogan “Faith in God and Peasant Unity”.
