„it's over”
President Milanović is not allowed to become Prime Minister of Croatia

April 19, 2024 at 8:53 pm

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Croatian President Milanović spontaneously announces his desire to run for the position of Prime Minister in the parliamentary elections. Now, after a warning has already been issued, the Constitutional Court has finally put a stop to his plans.

Two days after parliamentary elections in Croatia, the country's highest court banned incumbent President Zoran Milanovic from the post of prime minister. President of the Constitutional Court Miroslav Šibarovic said that Milanovic „was warned in time that he could not participate in the election campaign as long as he did not resign from his position as president.”

Milanovic, a left-wing populist, surprisingly announced in March, midway through the election campaign, that he would run for prime minister for the opposition Social Democratic Party. In doing so, he made the election campaign more exciting after Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had a clear lead in the opinion polls.

The Constitutional Court intervened at the time and declared that Milanović had to resign as president first so that he could run for head of government and a seat in Parliament. However, Milanović ignored this, remained in office and at the same time continued his election campaign. Now the head of the Constitutional Court said: “The matter is over now. He cannot be appointed prime minister.”

His term is scheduled to end next January

Prime Minister Plenkovic's Croatian Democratic Union party won Wednesday's election, but without an absolute majority: it won 61 of the 151 seats in the Croatian parliament, while Milanovic's centre-left coalition, led by Social Democrats, won 42 seats. The right-wing nationalist Homeland Movement came in third place with 14 seats and could become a kingmaker. According to their own statements, the HDZ and the Social Democratic Party have been trying to obtain their majority since the elections.

Plenković's term included, among other things, the introduction of the euro in Croatia and his country's entry into the Schengen Area. The HDZ has largely controlled Croatian politics since Zagreb broke away from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. The Social Democratic Party was the main opposition party during this time. Milanovic was Prime Minister of Croatia from 2011 to 2016. His term ends in January.

Former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has now said that the court itself is violating the constitution with its decisions. Leftist politician Dalia Oreskovic described Croatia's Supreme Court as „one of several hijacked institutions.”

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