After several recent scandals, Tihomir Jakovina has decided that he would be a burden for SDP.
Former Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina (SDP) has withdrawn from the candidate list of the People’s Coalition in the fifth parliamentary constituency. In the constituency which includes Požega-Slavonia County, Brod-Posavina County and Vukovar-Srijem County, Jakovina was supposed to be at the third position among fourteen candidates, reports Večernji List on August 2, 2016.
In the last few months, he has been accused in the media for a series of scandals, the last one related to the Croatian Forests public company, where as minister he signed on very large bonuses to three members of the Board of Directors, who recently went to the court in order to force the company to paid them.
“In my life and political work, I have always fought for Croatia and have always put the interests of Croatian citizens in the first place. In accordance with these principles, I served as Minister of Agriculture. I want to emphasize that in my work I have not done anything contrary to the laws. There are no legal procedures being conducted against me. However, at this time I am exposed to attacks that are being used to call into question not only my integrity, but also the credibility of the political party of which I am a member. My wish is for Croatia to continue to develop as a successful and well-organized state, and the victory of the People’s Coalition is the best guarantee for that. That is why I do not want to be a burden to my party on the way to victory at the September’s elections. Therefore, I would like to advise the public that I will not be a candidate for Parliament”, said Jakovina in a statement released by SDP.
Despite the scandals, it seemed that Jakovina would remain on the candidate list, and SDP president Zoran Milanović defended him repeatedly. Last week, Milanović said that he was personally “ready to stand in front of a mirror” and that there were great differences between SDP and HDZ. Milanović added that the fact that Jakovina as minister did not respect the government’s decision was just an omission. “Let us see what the other side is doing. We are not perfect, but we respect the law and institutions, while HDZ despises them”, he said.
However, the pressure from the public and probably SDP’s coalition partners was too strong and Jakovina was forced to withdraw at the end.
