Who will be the new SDP leader?
The current SDP president Zoran Milanović is very keen to take part in debates with Zlatko Komadina, Prefect of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and his many rival for the party president in the forthcoming intra-party elections. His campaign manager Siniša Hajdaš Dončić met two days ago with Komadina’s campaign manager Rajko Ostojić and suggested two debates, reports Vecernji List on February 20, 2016.
First debate would be broadcast on a national television (the TV network organizing the debate would have a right to freely choose the moderators and questions), while the second debate would take place at the party headquarters in Zagreb in front of members of the Main Committee of the SDP Youth Forum. However, the debate would be open to the public since it would be live streamed on the internet. Milanovic’s staff announced that they had still not received a response from Komadina whether he agreed with the plan.
“As far as we are concerned, we are open to all debates. However, we will wait for the third potential candidate for SDP president Duško Polovina Lungo to announce his position, if he manages to gather enough signatures supporting his candidacy by 1 March. In principle, we absolutely support the inter-party debates, both closed debates in front of our members in party branches in major Croatian cities and the public debates on television and in front of the SDP Youth Forum, but also in front of members of the Seniors’ and Women’s Forums”, said yesterday a source from Komadina’s campaign.
It seems that television debate between the candidates will happen since the third candidate for SDP president Duško Polovina Lungo said yesterday that he absolutely supported public television debates between the candidates. “I am absolutely for debates. I am willing to face the two of them on television. As far as I am concerned, Milanović, Komadina and I can go on television immediately”, said Polovina Lungo.
Milanović’s team said that they agree with all three candidates participating in the television debate, provided Polovina Lungo can gather a thousand signatures of SDP members by the end of the month, which is a prerequisite for candidature. Polovina Lungo earlier complained that associates of Milanović and Komadina are doing everything they can to prevent him from gathering the signatures and that there were many obstructions in the field, including the “disappearance of signatures that his colleagues in the party had already given him”.
According to unofficial information, the campaigns have agreed the financial terms of the intraparty campaign. Each candidate who gathers enough signatures will receive 120,000 kuna from the party for campaign expenses, and each candidate will be allowed to collect donations, but only from members of the party and not more than 80,000 kuna in total.
