Croatia's strongest opposition party, the Social Democrats (SDP), on Friday unveiled the main guidelines of their platform for the next parliamentary election, due in the autumn, saying that the party was seeking to secure order and stability.

Addressing party members and sympathisers in Koprivnica, 100 km northeast of Zagreb, SDP leader Davor Bernardic said that Croatia is currently ruled by corruption, there is a lack of trust in the institutions of the state, the ruling parties are unable to muster a majority in parliament, and the country is left without its chief state attorney.

“That’s why the SDP seeks to secure order and stability through its programme. We will address judicial reform and the need to increase wages and pensions because a million people cannot live in dignity on the wages and pensions they currently receive. We want to provide subsidised rental housing for young people because we know that most of them are uncreditworthy and that’s why we want to help them solve their housing problems so that they would stay in Croatia,” Bernardic said.

He said that the SDP would need partners to win the election, adding that they would negotiate with two parties of pensioners, the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Civic Liberal Alliance (GLAS) of Anka Mrak-Taritas, the Istrian Party (IDS) and all others with which they shared the same values.

Koprivnica mayor Misel Jaksic, seen as one of the most successful SDP mayors in the country, said that he had just returned from Israel, “a country that has turned its desert territory into fertile land, while we can see our country, which is rich in natural resources, turning into a desert in many areas.”