A former president forms a new political party in Croatia.
The leadership and members of SDP in Trnje in Zagreb will announce their decision to cross over to the Forward Croatia! – Progressive Alliance Party, which was recently founded by former president Ivo Josipović. The news will be announced at the press conference where Josipović will be joined by Mirko Drvar, president of SDP in Trnje, who will explain the reasons for this political transfer, reports Jutarnji List on August 17.
“Yes, it is true, we will announce that 35 members of SDP are leaving the party, and that number continues to grow. Among those leaving are three city councilmen. Why have we decided to leave? In the past six years, SDP has become a deeply divided party. Although it might seem to be a united party, in the county and municipal organizations divisions have been created, and there are various groupings, each with its own plan how to enhance its position within the party. Each internal party election with multiple candidates, rather than ending with the election of the best candidates, ends up creating conflicts”, said Drvar.
He added that the communication at the city level is weak, while communication with the party headquarters is non-existent. “The ministers have been unavailable for three and half years. They have totally alienated themselves from the membership and care only for themselves. Analysing who drinks coffee with whom and who is socializing with whom, and expulsions from the party of those who do not agree with something, this is not the way forward we could ever support”, said Drvar. Therefore they have decided to leave SDP and join the Forward Croatia Party which is “with its program and social tolerance, the right choice for every left-thinking member of the society”.
The party spokeswoman Jasmina Kapetanović said that this will not be the only transfer to the Josipović’s new party that was founded on May 31 and now has about 1,300 members. Political transfers are expected to continue by the end of the week, both in Zagreb and in some other parts of Croatia.
