ZAGREB, July 1, 2020 – Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardic said on Wednesday that instructions by the State Electoral Commission (DIP) on voting on election day in the context of the coronavirus pandemic were scandalous, calling on the government to enable all voters to go to the polls.
“Should it happen that some citizens are not enabled to vote, elections would be irregular. The government wanted elections, they made the decision and now they have to enable all citizens to participate in the elections in line with the Constitution,” Bernardic said.
He called DIP’s instructions scandalous because he believes that DIP is not authorised to ban people with a high temperature to vote.
“Have they made sure those people can exercise their right somehow, that is what this is about,” he warned.
Bernardic stressed that a government that was unable to make it possible for all citizens to go to the polls was incapable of implementing elections or running the country.
The government has opened the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina as it counted on the votes of ethnic Croats crossing the border, Bernardic said, noting that Bosnia and Herzegovina were among European countries with the highest rates of new cases of COVID-19.
Commenting on the latest claims by Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Skoro that neither Andrej Plenkovic nor Bernardic could be prime minister, Bernardic said that Skoro was trying to form a coalition with the HDZ.
“He is hoping for a coalition with the HDZ and offering the prime minister the post of foreign minister. In the current situation, the message is very clear – a vote for Skoro is a vote for the HDZ and vice versa,” said Bernardic.
He said his party’s approval ratings were positive and that all surveys predicted victory for the SDP-led RESTART coalition.
