Zoran Milanović or Zlatko Komadina will lead the main opposition party in the future.
On Saturday, members of SDP will go to the polls to elect the party’s president. There are two candidates: the current party president and former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and party vice-president and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Prefect Zlatko Komadina, reports Index.hr on April 1, 2016.
In accordance with the party bylaws, the elections for the party president will be held under the “one member – one vote” principle. The same principle was used in 2012, but at that time Zoran Milanović was the only candidate.
Party members will vote at polling stations in the municipal, city and local party branches between 9 am and 6 pm, except in party branches with fewer than 30 members which are allowed to open the polling stations later. The Party Central Election Commission should announce the provisional unofficial results at 9 pm, after which the statements of the two candidates are expected.
The election campaign in SDP has been ongoing since mid-January. The rival campaigns have often publicly used harsh words. Milanović apologized for that at his final pre-election rally on Thursday, telling the gathering that he was sorry if there were too harsh words said during the campaign, adding that there was no ill intent.
To members of his party, Milanović offered the continuation of the fight against HDZ, stating that he did not intend to depart from the left-liberal values, while Komadina built his campaign around relationships within the party, promising that all members would be involved in personnel decisions, from candidates for electoral lists to potential ministers and the prime minister.
At the end of the campaign, the two camps have unofficially announced the possibility of post-electoral “purges” within the party, but both candidates have publicly emphasized that they do not intend to retaliate against dissenters.
