An alternative look at the Croatian election campaign.
The Amusement Park is Back in Town
In Croatia it can be pretty gloomy and desperate except during that special time of the year. And I don’t mean Christmas. I mean all this joyous and fun time preceding the Election Day which is set for 8 November 2015. We all remember from our childhood the times when the amusement park would come back to town. Hell, boys and girls, it is the time for a ride again.
During this time, Croats live like in a fairytale, they actually could get convinced that politicians care for them. Let’s see what all these Political Parties in crime have in common. They will all reduce taxes, stimulate development and investments, and reduce corruption. They will also reform the judiciary and reduce administration.
What is the difference between all these parties one might ask? The difference is in the name.
Other strange things happen. All of a sudden the Prime Minister, well-known for his cheekiness, becomes the one and only neighbourhood hero, the one who showed the Serbs and Hungarians how civilized nations behave.
This is the only time of year during which the fun on TV is guaranteed, whether you watch the Minister of Regional Development who does not know how to calculate 2% out of something and wishes to continue to develop the country, or whether you watch opposing party candidate for Prime Minister, who cannot, no matter how hard he tries – and he tries – manage to name all 5 points of his party program called 5+. What a joke!
How about the appearance of newly formed coalition Successful Croatia Consisting, consisting of ex-president Josipović, and convicted road killer and former leader of HNS Ćaćić, who lost his party while he was doing time, they present themselves as the Coalition without a leader which is very promising for the progress of Croatia. They were joined by former Prime Minister Kosor who seems to change political afiliations and views much more often than her underwear.
Or what about photos of party campaign gatherings from HDZ, the main opposition party. These guys like to have their photo taken with right hand on their hearts during playing of national anthem. Like Croatia, darling nobody loves you and nobody robs you like we do. One of the main conditions for being in the first rows is that you have no clean criminal record.
Or playing hide and seek with the train? The Croatian president runs into the arms of Hungarian president like a heroine from a heart breaking movie to sacrifice herself for the benefit of Croatian people to bring back the train that was seized and held by Hungarian police for three weeks and afterwards tells us: It is I who gave the train back to Croatia. NOT. Because Minister of Interior Ranko, My Name is Ranko, said that the return of train was arranged one week ago.
And so on and so forth as if we are on never ending rollercoaster and the only thing that we can do is sit down and laugh, laugh, laugh.
The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter (Mark Twain).
