HDZ candidate General Krstičević has recently been in the focus of attention.
Attempts to discredit war-time General Damir Krstičević, who is first on HDZ’s candidate list in the tenth parliamentary constituency and one of the closest associates of new HDZ president Andrej Plenković, have started appearing in the media. After articles bringing into question his support for independence of Croatia in early 1990s, the most recent article analyzes his role during the siege of Vukovar in 1991, reports Večernji List on August 30, 2016.
On Friday, a meeting of the Croatian Generals Union was held. The Union gathers many of war-time generals. Some members wanted the Union to adopt an official position that they supported Krstičević, and this idea was particularly advocated by Miroslav Tuđman, a son of Franjo Tuđman, Croatian President during the 1990s and also HDZ’s candidate for Parliament. Even though General Krstičević in recent days received support from even some opposition leaders, including SDP president Zoran Milanović and SDP’s former Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić, the Croatian Generals Union could not reach a consensus.
Moreover, there was a heated discussion, which at one moment reportedly even caused one of the generals to throw a bag on a floor. It was reportedly thrown by General Josip Lucić, former Chief of General Staff of Croatian Army, as an expression of his disagreement with the support for Krstičević. Since no consensus could be reached, the Union in the end did not adopt any formal position.
The controversy started a few weeks ago when, during a meeting of the Union with Pleković, it became clear that Krstičević would be one of his closest associates. Some of the generals, particularly those hard-line ones, are not pleased with Plenković’s new, more moderate HDZ, in which there is no room for the radical right, while others are not pleased with the fact that they have not been included in candidate lists for parliamentary elections.
“Instead of being happy that a general will be able to influence state policy, he is now being wrongly accused. It is a shame”, said one of the generals. “There was a heated debate. We believe that General Krstičević was an honourable soldier, but we did not want to interfere in this whole affair”, said the Union president Pavao Miljavac.
According to sources, the recent publication of secretly recorded meeting between SDP president Zoran Milanović and some veterans’ representatives was criticized by numerous members of former guards’ brigades, who were represented at the meeting by their association president Dražimir Jukić.
“We think that it was an unacceptable, unfair and deceptive act to secretly record the meeting with Milanović. We do believe that meetings should be held with leaderships of all parties, but in a dignified and transparent manner. We believe that the conversation should have been open to public, because such discussions should not be secret”, said president of the 5th Guards Brigade Association Zoran Marunček.
