The new HDZ leadership wants to cooperate with its prominent former members.
Andrej Plenković, who is the new HDZ president, wants to bring the party closer to political centre, which means that some of those who have left the party in the last few years could again be acceptable partners, reports Večernji List on July 21, 2016.
Sources close to Plenković say there is a possibility of cooperation with people who, after leaving HDZ, have established new political parties, and that everything would be known in the next two to three days, when HDZ should have a decision which partners it will keep for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. For now, it is certain that HDZ will keep HSLS, while HRAST, BUZ and HDS are out of the picture, while the status of HSP-AS is still uncertain, since HDZ is not sure whether they should continue cooperation with Pero Ćorić and Ivan Tepeš whose radical views are endangering HDZ’s image, which now wants to cover as much of the political centre as possible.
When it comes to cooperation with former members, the first in the line is Drago Prgomet (Karamarko’s former deputy), who is now the president of HRID. His statements make clear that he would like to join HDZ’s candidate lists in Zagreb and possibly in parliamentary constituencies in Slavonia. According to unofficial information, Prgomet and Plenković have informally discussed the idea, but no official agreement has been made.
At the last elections, Prgomet was part of MOST and won three seats in Parliament in the first constituency, but after being expelled from MOST it is difficult to imagine he could repeat that success. However, he could have a good result if he goes to the polls together with HDZ. HDZ could also cooperate with Milan Kujundžić, who after leaving HDZ founded the Croatian Dawn party, but he did not get a single MP. Kujundžić yesterday confirmed that he had informal discussions with the new HDZ leadership. The latest changes in HDZ leadership also raise the issue of the return of Jadranka Kosor, former Prime Minister and HDZ president, and former Finance Minister Martina Dalić.
“When it comes to the return of Jadranka Kosor to HDZ, since she was expelled from the party, we would have to change HDZ regulations after the parliamentary elections”, said a source from HDZ. However she could be included in a candidate list as an independent candidate.
