Party leaders did not stay quiet for long telling Baldasar he is free to leave anytime he wants
It didn’t take long for some members of SDP to start expressing their discontent with the fact that SDP failed to form the new Croatian government. On December 28, 2015, mayor of Split Ivo Baldasar publicly called on the entire party leadership to resign and to announce new party elections as soon as possible.
This public outcry might have actually had some weight if it was voiced by another, more esteemed party member, but as the entire Croatian public knows, Baldasar was not exactly on good terms with Zoran Milanović and many other highly ranked party officials, especially since he was not listed on the ballot for the last elections.
Other party members answered within minutes, and of course, most of them were not in favour of Baldasar’s proposal. As reported by Jutarnji List, Milanka Opačić, vice president of SDP, said that she has no intention of resigning: We did not lose the elections, they were, just like the opportunity to form the government, taken from us” she commented. Furthermore, she added that if he doesn’t like the form of communication towards HDZ that maybe he should join that party instead.
Branko Grčić, former minister in Milanović’s government, and one of the main negotiators with MOST (and also known as the most confused member of the former government) stated that it is obvious Baldasar’s statements are the result of his frustration for being left off the ballot. He added that this is visible from his behaviour in the last few months and the fact that he was openly distancing himself from SDP: “He is going down his own path. I don’t know where that path is leading but I wish him luck along the way” said Grčić.
Mayor of Rijeka Vojko Obersnel also commented on Baldasar’s outburst with a brief Twitter post: “Rats are always the first to run off a ship”
Who knows, maybe because of this outburst, his own party members will finally learn how to spell his name since in one evening he was called everything from Baltasar to Baltazar (character from a Croatian cartoon).
