The 17-member presidency of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Tuesday afternoon took over the helm of the party's caucus after a majority of the caucus earlier in the day turned down proposals by the new leader Pedja Grbin for changes in the positions which SDP MPs fill in the national parliament.

Earlier on Tuesday Grbin’s proposals for the change in five out of 23 positions allotted to the SDP did not receive support by a majority of MPs from this Opposition party.

Miso Krsticevic, a member of the presidency, told the press that this was the first time in the history of the SDP that the party’s caucus rejected decisions made by the president of the party.

The presidency will conduct the proposed changes regardless of the opposition expressed by some MPs, since the statute of the SDP is above the rule book of the caucus of SDP parliamentary deputies, according to the explanation provided by the presidency.

Krsticevic said that the proposed changes would be put forward directly to the parliament to be voted.

Sabo: I don’t consider myself a burden on SDP

One of the stumbling blocks to unity in the SDP party seems to be the election of Zeljko Sabo to the party’s presidency.

New leader Grbin and a few other officials admit that the election of Sabo, who served a prison sentence for political corruption, causes harm to the party’s reputation.

Grbin has demanded that Sabo suspends his membership.

On Tuesday evening, Sabo responded that he did not consider himself a burden on the party.

Sabo recalled that his election was supported by over 3,000 members in the SDP county and city branches in Vukovar.

He added that he would first discuss the next move by those members before making any decision.