ZAGREB, June 21, 2018 – The head of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) group in the parliament Branko Bačuć said on Thursday that autumn was the appropriate deadline for the HDZ to start preparations for elections for the country’s president, and that he believed that by that time President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović would decide whether to run for her second term in office as the HDZ’s candidate.
“I don’t think that the president needs to be given a deadline. The beginning of the autumn is an appropriate deadline for the HDZ to launch preparations for presidential elections, and I believe that by the autumn we will know if Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has decided to run for president for a second time as the HDZ’s candidate,” Bačić told reporters in the parliament.
Bačić believes that Grabar-Kitarović has still not decided how and whether she would compete for another term in office. “The HDZ has expressed readiness to support her for another term,” he said.
Bačić believes that Grabar-Kitarović is hardly likely to win the presidential election if not backed by the HDZ, which he described as the strongest political party.
Asked if he believed that Grabar-Kitarović did not want to announce her plans regarding presidential elections because in that case she would have to stop criticising the government, Bačić said that presidential powers included the possibility to comment on daily political events.
“She knows best whether it is necessary and good to comment on political events in Croatia on a daily basis, but that does raise the question of whether she does or does not support the government. If you make daily comments, it is understandable that the media and members of the public wonder if those statements are for or against the government,” said Bačić.
The government’s work leaves room for the president to build her political rating on good assessments of the government’s performance as well, he said. “That performance will be wind in Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s back if she opts for another term in office,” Bačić said.
He added that the HDZ was not considering another presidential candidate but was waiting for the president to decide. Asked what would happen if she opted not to run, Bačić said, “All in good time.”
