MPs of the Mozemo! party, supported by citizens, on Wednesday morning were bringing to an end a vigil they started on Tuesday evening in protest at Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's insistence on appointing Ivan Turudic State Attorney-General after text messages between Turudic and Josipa Rimac were made public.

“We received a lot of support,” MP Ivana Kekin told the Croatian state news agency Hina on Wednesday morning, adding that many citizens came by, bringing them food and warm drinks.

Around 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening, there were some 200 protesters outside the government and parliament offices in St. Mark’s Square and even though their number dropped during the night, there was a two-digit number of protesters the whole time, Kekin said.

As for other politicians, the protest by We Can! was supported by MP Dalija Oreskovic (SsIP) and Ivan Racan (SDP).

Kekin said her party colleagues would stay in St. Mark’s Square until the very start of the parliamentary vote on Turudic’s appointment.

The proposal to appoint the High Criminal Court judge Ivan Turudic State Attorney-General, on which the prime minister insisted even after text messages between Turudic and former HDZ official Josipa Pleslic (formerly Rimac), now indicted for corruption, were made public, has prompted an avalanche of criticism from opposition MPs.

“This situation will make it clear for Croatian citizens that not all politicians are the same. Today they will be able to see who will show up for the vote and who will not, who will vote for and who against,” Kekin said.

She said that they did not expect any surprises from MPs of the ruling HDZ party, but they did expect its coalition partners to think twice before voting.

We expect all members of the opposition to show up for the vote, Kekin said.

“This is the most important vote in the current parliament’s term. This is a vote for history and it is really important how MPs will vote,” she said.

Kekin said the 23-hour vigil by Mozemo! was staged to show, on behalf of all citizens, protest at the government’s attack on democracy and its decision to nominate for the post of State Attorney-General a man who was a proven liar and had criminals for friends.

PM Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday reiterated the position of the ruling majority that Turudic is the best candidate for State Attorney-General, describing the reactions to the government’s proposal as an attempt at a political attack against the government.

On the other hand, the opposition believes that by insisting on Turudic’s appointment, Plenkovic wants to protect the HDZ and himself and that the correspondence between Turudic and Pleslic confirms that the HDZ is a criminal organisation that has its representatives in senior positions in the judicial authorities.