Plenković wants to make HDZ a centre-right party.
Andrej Plenković officially submitted his candidacy for HDZ president. His candidacy is supported by more than 35,000 signatures of HDZ members from all over Croatia, reports Večernji List on July 6, 2016.
“Elections which will be held on 17 July are crucial for strengthening the legitimacy of the new president within the party, but also outwards so that he could lead the party into the new elections with the full support of voters and HDZ members”, said Plenković who brought the signatures to the HDZ headquarters together with members of his electoral campaign staff.
Plenković also commented on the latest scandal involving loans which HDZ received several years ago from a private company Prvo Plinarsko Društvo. “HDZ has to be financed in a transparent way, and I will demand the political responsibility of the then party leadership”, said Plenković.
He announced that he would officially launch his electoral manifesto on Friday and that he would visit all the counties before the elections, talk with party members and present them his manifesto. “I hope that we will all together have the energy and strength in the challenges that lie ahead. I will approach them very enthusiastically, full of energy”, said Plenković. He said he would like to have opponents, but added that it was the responsibility of each member to decide whether they would run and that he could not influence that.
Plenković, speaking about possible coalitions, said that in the pre-campaign phase he would be focused primarily on HDZ. “When I officially become the party president, then I will talk with them with full legitimacy, then I will hear them out and we will make a decision whether it would be good for HDZ to go to the polls alone or in some pre-election coalition. I will make this decision when I discuss it in detail with all coalition partners”, said Plenković.
Plenković’s slogan is “The Central Force for the Development of Croatia”. He said that HDZ was the main and key party that had the people, programmes and quality to be the central force in the future. “HDZ will be a centre-right, people’s party based on Christian Democratic heritage and humanistic principles”, said Plenković, adding that he would nurture the conciliation policies of Franjo Tuđman.
So far, Plenković is the only candidate for HDZ president. On Tuesday, an Aleksandar Makovec from Čakovec announced he would run in protest of having just one candidate, although he admitted he would probably not manage to collect enough signatures of support. The deadline for submission of candidacies will expire at midnight. All other potential serious candidates have announced they would not run against Plenković.
