Croatian MPs on Friday rejected President Zoran Milanovic's nominee Zlata Djurdjevic for the new Supreme Court chief, in a vote largely along party lines, with 81 votes against, 37 in favor, and five abstentions in the 151-seat assembly. Pročitaj više

State agency Hina reported comments by MPs before the vote.

Before the vote, Marijan Pavlicek of the right-wing Sovereignist party said that Djurdjevic was unacceptable to him because “she is ideologically colored, an exponent of liberal left politics and a toy in President Zoran Milanovic’s hands.”

“There is no ideology about her. She is a professional who bothers all those who don’t want change,” said Kreso Beljak (Peasants’ Party). Pedja Grbin (Social Democrats) said there were two groups, one that felt that everything in Croatia’s judiciary was all right and one that wanted to change things.

Drazen Bosnjakovic (ruling HDZ party) said Djurdjevic had not applied for the post, that she therefore broke the law, and that it was therefore unacceptable to appoint her to the Supreme Court. Stephen Bartulica (Homeland Movement) said Djurdjevic was “not the best candidate.”

Milorad Pupovac (Independent Democratic Serb Party) said it was “a pity that the procedure had been contaminated from the start” and that it was “not only a matter of a good candidate but the election atmosphere.”

Ursa Raukar-Gamulin (Green-Left Coalition) said one should elect based on objective and professional criteria and that short-term political interests should be eliminated from such elections. Marija Selak-Raspudic (Most party) called everything “a farce in which parliament is reduced to a worthless institution which should participate in a show the outcome of which is predetermined.”