Just like prior to last year’s elections, MOST against say they will not go into coalition with any of the major parties.
MOST president Božo Petrov said on Friday that his party will not enter into a coalition with any of the political parties after the elections and stressed that cooperation was possible only on solid foundations. At this time, another non-partisan prime minister is not an option that MOST would accept, reports Index.hr on September 2, 2016.
“For us it is unacceptable to tolerate anybody, regardless of whether it is a first deputy prime minister or even a prime minister, if they are caught in a conflict of interest”, said Petrov, adding that MOST demonstrated its determination in the previous government. He said that parties should cooperate on solid foundations. “We are certainly not going to enter into a coalition, especially the way it was done during the past 20 years”, said Petrov. However, he did say the same thing prior to last year’s elections, which did not preclude him from finally forming a government with HDZ, which he said was not a coalition, but a “cooperation”.
Asked whether they would insist on a non-partisan prime minister, Petrov reiterated that it was no longer an option. He added that the reason was great resistance against current Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. “No matter who a non-partisan candidate would be, there would be equally strong resistance. Orešković demonstrated that he knew how to do his job”, said Petrov.
Asked who would be acceptable to MOST as prime minister, since HDZ insist on Andrej Plenković while the People’s Coalition want SDP president Milanović to become prime minister, Petrov said that citizens were the ones who would give someone the largest number of votes, adding that the Prime Minister-designate will be the one who will bring 76 signatures of support from future members of Parliament. “As for the conditions, our only condition is an economic programme”, said Petrov.
Petrov claimed that HDZ and SDP could very easily come to an agreement about the grand coalition. “I invite them to try to enter into a compromise with us so that they can be as honest as we are, and we will accept some of their demands”, offered Petrov. “If the grand coalition depended just on them, it would have happened. Fortunately, their core voters do not want such a coalition”, said Petrov.
