Left-liberal opposition MPs on Monday called for a snap election, announcing that they would sign a motion for parliament's dissolution following Minister Darko Horvat's arrest and an investigation into Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic.

The left-liberal opposition assessed Prime Minister Plenkovic’s statement on Saturday, after Horvat was arrested on suspicion of illegally awarding HRK 2.6 million in grants, as scandalous and unprecedented pressure on the judiciary.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Plenkovic called out the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) to explain its action regarding Horvat to the public, saying that it was disproportionate and that the timing of the arrest was odd.

Jaksic: SDP was the first to call for a snap election Saturday

SDP MP Misel Jaksic said that his party was the first on Saturday to call for an early election. “The opposition has to show a high level of responsibility in this regard and that is for us to go together towards the objective of an early election and in that way show citizens that a country where ministers are arrested is not normal,” he said.

Commenting on media reports that Milosevic’s arrest was halted at the very last moment, Jaksic said that the SDP had been concerned for quite some time now about leaks in investigations.

“We are quite concerned that there may have been some sort of bargaining,” the chairman of the parliamentary Judiciary Committee said, announcing a thematical meeting of the committee this week to discuss whether pressure had been exerted on the judiciary because “Prime Minister Plenkovic had a very ugly attitude towards DORH and USKOK (anti-corruption office).”

If it turns out to be true that Milosevic’s arrest was halted by political pressure then that is a bad message, said Jaksic.

In a situation when he has to worry about the pandemic, energy crisis and post-earthquake reconstruction, the prime minister has to worry about who else might be arrested tomorrow, and that cannot be the way to lead the country, MP Ivana Kekin said.

“The only solution is an early election,” she said, adding that everyone in the opposition, with the exception of Hrvoje Zekanovic, seems to think that there should be a snap election. She stressed that a government reshuffle was out of the question.

“It’s high time the prime minister faced the truth that his government is not functioning,” concluded Kekin.

Puljak: Entire opposition should be untied in supporting Bridge motion to dissolve Sabor

Marijana Puljak (Centre) said that her parliamentary group would certainly support an early election during this greatest crisis for the country in the past decade.

She believes that the entire opposition should support Bridge’s motion to dissolve the Sabor regardless of different views.