After SDP lost in the post-election coalition negotiations, it was only a question of who will be the first to attack SDP president and outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Milanović. The first shot was fired by mayor of Split and a member of SDP Main Committee Ivo Baldasar on December 28, 2015, demanding that Milanović and his team resign from the party leadership and urgently hold intra-party elections, in which SDP members could elect a new party president and new leadership.
According to party rules, intra-party elections should be held no later than mid-April (within 150 days from the official announcement of the results of parliamentary elections). Baldasar’s statement started discussions who will oppose Milanović in the fight for SDP. The only other prominent party member who has publicly announced his candidature (as early as June last year) is SDP vice-president and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Prefect Zlatko Komadina. “There will be plenty of time for everything. I have given statements many times on this issue, there is no need to repeat it”, Komadina said yesterday when asked whether he would run to be SDP president. He justified Baldasar’s statement and explained that everyone has the right to freedom of speech, but he tried to calm down the tensions, saying that the elections are neither finished nor lost because the new government has not yet been formed. “There is no need to rush, there will be enough time for discussions with others within the party about what to do next”, Komadina said.
Another possible candidate for SDP president is Tonino Picula, a member of the European Parliament, who has not yet revealed his plans. “Thank you for your interest, but this is not the right time”, he said yesterday asked whether he would run for SDP president. SDP vice-president Rajko Ostojić, the third possible candidate being mentioned, said yesterday that he believed that “the key is to look rationally at what has been done well, and where very big mistakes have been made”.
The party leadership is not at all surprised by the attacks. They say that a few people in the party continuously “personally attack” Zoran Milanović who is younger, but more experienced than them. Their only goal is to replace him. As they say, the party needs a political leader who will put his head where others would not put their foot. And they do not see anybody except Milanović who would do that.
People in the party close to Milanović are convinced that there is no real competition, but nevertheless they point out that opponents should not be underestimated. “There are Komadina, Picula, Rajko Ostojić and Davor Bernardić. But, they all know that Milanović is strong among members and that they would be wise not to waste votes. So I believe that they will choose one candidate among themselves, and that others will advocate for that candidate”, a SDP source said.
There is no doubt that “the war for SDP” has just started, although Baldasar yesterday backed off a bit. “My statement provoked an unnecessary storm of reactions. This was my personal opinion as the president of SDP in Split and not a formally agreed position of the city party organization, although, judging by the support, I think I share it with a large number of members”, said Baldasar in a new statement sent to media yesterday.
