Davor Bernardić, who is considered to be the favourite of party members, has less support among voters.
Nova TV announced results of a poll about candidates for SDP president and policies the party should advocate. The respondents were also asked about their opinion on the outgoing SDP president Zoran Milanović, reports dnevnik.hr on November 14, 2016.
Among all voters in Croatia, MEP Tonino Picula leads with 29 percent, followed by former Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić (25 percent), president of the SDP branch in Zagreb Davor Bernardić (22 percent), and former Justice Minister Orsat Miljenić (6 percent). Other candidates have less than two percent of support. Among just SDP voters, Ostojić has 38 percent of support, followed by Picula (26 percent), Bernardić (20 percent), and Miljenić (8 percent).
Asked who would be best to return SDP to power, 31 percent of voters said Picula, followed by Ostojić (20 percent), and Bernardić (16 percent).
The respondents were also asked whether SDP should remain ideologically where it is today, or whether it should move further to the left or to the centre. Almost half of voters think that the party should stay where it is (49 percent), 22 percent say it should move closer to the centre, while 20 percent think it should move to the left.
Asked about policy priorities of the party in the following period, voters put emphasis on youth policies (43%), protecting workers’ rights (41%), protection of pensioners (26%), curriculum reform (25%), promoting entrepreneurship (22%), greater separation of the Church and state (17%), and greater participation of women in politics (11%).
About 51 percent of all voters think that the resignation of Zoran Milanović as SDP president will bring more benefits than harm to the party, 29 percent say that it will have no major impact, while 12 percent think that it will harm the party. SDP’s voters are more divided about the issue. About 37 percent of them think that it will be beneficial, and just as many think that nothing will change much. About 20 percent say it will be bad for the party.
About 46 percent of voters say that Milanović made more positive than negative things for Croatia, while 36 percent think he did more harm to the country. Among SDP’s voters, 81 percent think he did more positive things, while only 10 percent say his overall contribution was negative.
The first round of election for SDP president will take place on Sunday.
