ZAGREB, January 28, 2020 – A candidate for the president of the ruling HDZ party, Miro Kovač, said on Monday that the HDZ was turning into a party “without any flavour or smell”, adding that he would change that and make the party victorious again.
In an interview with RTL television, Kovač said that the HDZ was in a difficult position after the defeat in the recent presidential election and that he would change that once he was elected its leader.
He said that he was “very relaxed” regarding his possible election as HDZ president and the election of Ivan Penava and Davor Ivo Stier his deputy and HDZ vice-president respectively.
Kovač said that he had a strong team and that “every HDZ member wishing for a change and wishing to help the HDZ become a party with a flavour and smell” was welcome.
He did not give a straightforward answer regarding President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s position in that team, saying only that they had not discussed it.
“Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s electoral defeat was not just her fault, she lost the elections also because of Plenković, who as the party’s leader shares the responsibility for that,” Kovac said.
He said that after the parliamentary elections, all parties except for the Social Democratic Party would be possible partners to the HDZ.
“The SDP is our main political rival, a grand coalition would be very bad for Croatian democracy,” he said.
The HDZ leadership decided at a meeting last Friday to hold elections for the party president, deputy president and four vice-presidents on March 15.
The new leadership will be elected by direct ballot on a one-member-one-vote basis.
More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.
