Since Plenković is the only candidate, there is little doubt who will win.
Andrej Plenković is the only candidate for HDZ president in the elections that will take place on Sunday. The elections will be held under the “one member – one vote” principle, reports Index.hr on July 16, 2016.
Around 220,000 HDZ members will vote on Sunday in their city, municipal and local party organizations. Plenković will replace Tomislav Karamarko, who submitted his resignation on 21 June because he did not manage to form a new parliamentary majority, which he promised to the party. Karamarko resigned after he himself was the only candidate at the elections held on 17 April, when he was re-elected for a second term as party president with the alleged support of more than 90,000 party members.
Plenković has received support for his candidacy from more than 35,000 party members, and in his election manifesto he stressed that his main goal would be to restore the confidence of voters with credible and consistent policies. He believes that HDZ can once again become a leader in modernization of Croatian society, with a respect for traditional values. Plenković sees HDZ as a nation-building party of Croatian people representing national interests and traditional values, Christian-democratic and universal humanistic principles and as part of the European centre-right political spectrum. He emphasizes that his program advocates for “contemporary HDZ”, which condemns all totalitarianisms and respects all victims, firmly sticks to the policy of reconciliation of President Franjo Tuđman, protects the rights and dignity of Croatian war veterans and their families, and promotes their role in society.
In connection with the forthcoming early parliamentary elections, Plenković says that HDZ is open for discussions and partnerships with parties belonging to the Patriotic Coalition and others, wherein he would be guided by the principles of programme compatibility and worldview similarities.
Plenković will be the fifth HDZ president. Franjo Tuđman led the party from its foundation in 1989 until his death in 1999. The second president of the party was Ivo Sanader (from 2000 to 2009), who was replaced after his resignation by Jadranka Kosor. Since 2012, the party was led by Tomislav Karamarko.
Plenković was born in Zagreb in 1970. He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, where he completed post-graduate studies in international public and private law. He got employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994, and in his diplomatic career he held several important posts in the country and abroad. He joined HDZ in 2011 and he was a member of Croatian Parliament until 1 July 2013. From April 2012 to July 2013, he was also one of 12 Croatian MPs who were observers in European Parliament. After the accession of Croatia to the EU in 2013, he became a Member of European Parliament. At the European elections held on 25 May 2014, he was re-elected as an MEP.
