President to Meet with Party Leaders to Discuss the Election Date

Croatian election date announcement getting closer. 

President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović will invite all leaders of the parliamentary parties to her office at Pantovčak as soon as the parliament is dissolved. The only issue of discussions will be the election date. Although the constitution provides that the decision on the election date is made by the president alone, until now, the election dates have always been suggested by outgoing governments. However, prime minister Zoran Milanović has said that, unlike his predecessors, he will not do that, reports Vecernji List on September 6, 2015.

“Croatian President has the legal authority and she will designate one Sunday as the election date. If I were to tell the president: we would like for the elections to be held on 8th or 15th of this or that month – that would be the perspective of the president of SDP, and not the public interest. Each party has its own interests and therefore the president should set the date”, said the prime minister. He has also added he had no plans to go to consultations with the president. “The legal framework exists, and I do not have a right to influence her. There is no need for consultations, and they have nothing to do with the constitution. Consultations after the parliamentary elections – absolutely, to see who can assemble the parliamentary majority”, said Milanović.

HNS will also not meet with the president. “We have still not received the invitation, but we will not go. There is no need for that, we are consulting with our coalition partners”, said the vice president of HNS Ivan Vrdoljak. As for the date of elections, HNS just wants them to be held in the constitutionally defined timeframe. In other words, they do not care whether the elections will be held on October 25, or November 1, 8, or 15 (if the parliament is dissolved on September 22).

Other ruling coalition partners will accept the president’s invitation. The Labour Party president Nansi Tireli believes it would be best to go to the polls on November 15, while IDS is fine with any date. Most other parties share that view. “We are ready for elections, so any date would be good for us. However, we still do not understand why the government has consistently refused to release the exact date of the dissolution of parliament so the citizens and other parties would know when the elections will be held”, says a member of the HDZ presidency Gordan Jandroković.

“We are fine with all the possible dates but by all accounts, it seems that they will be held on November 15, and that date is the optimal solution”, said HSS president Branko Hrg. President of HDSSB Dragan Vulin wants to have the elections as soon as possible, and October 25 looks to him like the best date. For the president of ORaH Mirela Holy, any Sunday in November is fine. “However, it would be better to have the elections before the anniversary of Vukovar, in order to prevent the further polarization of citizens”, says Holy. Coalition partners Radimir Čačić and Ivo Josipović will also go to the consultations with the president. Čačić would like to go to the polls as soon as possible, on October 25, while Josip Kregar from Josipović’s party thinks November 15 would be the best.

 

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