ZAGREB, March 16, 2020 – Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Sunday, after his team won an intra-party election, that the ruling party’s members had clearly said what kind of HDZ they wanted.
“The members of the HDZ sent a very clear message today as to what kind of HDZ they wanted and which people they wanted at the helm of the party,” Plenković said after the election results were released.
He thanked all HDZ members who took part in the intra-party election and voted for his team, saying the turnout was very good given the circumstances.
Plenković especially congratulated Tomo Medved on his election as deputy president as well as vice president Zdravka Bušić, saying she symbolised the HDZ from the party’s beginnings and the time of its first president Franjo Tuđman. He also congratulated Oleg Butković, Branko Bačić and Ivan Anušić on their election as vice presidents.
“This is now the inner leadership, people who are special, each in their own way, not necessary that we should think alike about everything. Most important is that we share the same values and the direction of the development of the HDZ and Croatia,” Plenković said, confident that he will lead the party to victory in a parliamentary election later this year.
He said the votes of about 70,000 HDZ members gave him a good legitimacy to continue to run the party and that he expected the party’s approval ratings to improve.
The HDZ is where it should be, dominating Croatia’s political spectrum, on the centre-right, Plenković said. We share state-building, patriotic and Christian democratic values, he added.
Miro Kovač, who also ran for party president, congratulated Plenković on his re-election. The party’s former deputy president, Milijan Brkić, who ran for a vice presidential position, was not elected.
More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.
