“It’s over”
President Milanović is not allowed to become prime minister in Croatia
April 19, 2024, 8:53 p.m
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Croatian President Milanović spontaneously announces that he wants to run for the office of prime minister in the parliamentary elections. Now, after a warning has already been given, the Constitutional Court is finally putting a stop to his plans.
Two days after the parliamentary election in Croatia, the country’s highest court barred incumbent President Zoran Milanović from the office of prime minister. Milanović was “warned in good time that he cannot take part in the election campaign as long as he does not resign from his post as president,” said the President of the Constitutional Court, Miroslav Separović.
The left-wing populist Milanović surprisingly announced in March, in the middle of the election campaign, that he would run for the office of head of government for the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP). In doing so, he made the election campaign even more exciting after Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s conservative HDZ party was clearly ahead in the polls.
The Constitutional Court intervened back then and declared that Milanović had to resign as president first in order to be able to run for the office of head of government and for a seat in parliament. However, Milanović ignored this, remained in office and at the same time continued his election campaign. Now the President of the Constitutional Court said: “It’s over now. He cannot be designated head of government.”
His term of office is scheduled to end in January
Prime Minister Plenković’s HDZ won Wednesday’s election, but without gaining an absolute majority: it secured 61 of the 151 seats in the Croatian parliament, while the center-left alliance led by Milanović’s SDP achieved 42 seats. The right-wing nationalist Homeland Movement came in third with 14 seats and could become the kingmaker. According to their own statements, the HDZ and SDP have been trying to gain their own majority since the election.
Plenković’s term of office included, among other things, the introduction of the euro in Croatia and his country’s entry into the Schengen area. The HDZ has largely dominated Croatian politics since Zagreb broke away from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. The SDP was the main opposition party during this time. Milanović was Prime Minister of Croatia from 2011 to 2016. His term as president ends in January.
Former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has now said that the court itself violates the constitution with its decisions. Left-wing politician Dalija Oresković described Croatia’s highest court as “one of several hijacked institutions.”