ZAGREB, January 3, 2019 – MP Mladen Mađer has decided to leave the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) and join the parliamentary group of the BM 365 Party of Work and Solidarity led by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, the HSS said in a press release on Thursday.
With the admission of yet another defector to its ranks, the parliamentary bench of this party increased to 13 members.
Recently, former SDP officials Milanka Opačić, Zdravko Ronko and Ana Komparić Devčić crossed the floor to join this group, and Marija Puh of the Croatian People’s Party (HNS) followed suit.
The other members of this group are Darinko Dumbović, Kazimir Varda, Ivica Mišić and Željko Lacković, as well as four parliamentary deputies of ethnic minorities, ethnic Hungarian Robert Jankovics, ethnic Romany Veljko Kajtazi, ethnic Albanian Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj and ethnic Czech Vladimir Bilek.
Bandić’s BM 365 Party of Work and Solidarity won only one seat in the national legislature in the September 2016 parliamentary election.
Following the latest developments, HSS leader Krešo Beljak has lodged a complaint against Mađer and Bandić with the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) on suspicion that their defection was prompted by acts of corruption.
“We sincerely hope that independent institutions will promptly investigate this case and thus show that there is some hope for this country,” the HSS said.
More news on the Zagreb mayor can be found in our Politics section.
