The leader of the Domovinski pokret (DP) party, Ivan Penava, said on Thursday that the DP is open to an agreement with the opposition, but also to the possibility of new election if no agreement is reached on the formation of a parliamentary majority with the HDZ.

“All options are open, we are talking to all sides with respect and without blackmail. We are in favour of the option of an agreement, but if this fails, we are open to the option of an agreement with the other side and ultimately to the option of new election,” Penava told the press in Borovo Selo with regard to the negotiations with the HDZ party on the formation of a parliamentary majority.

No names or ministries are yet at the centre of these negotiations, Penava said and reiterated that the DP would under no circumstances agree to the participation of the SDSS (Independent Democratic Serbian Party) in the new government or to a parliamentary majority that would support the new government.

He said that the SDSS has “continuity in power in Croatia” and is the reason why those responsible for the war atrocities in Borovo Selo “have not been punished (and) why the monument to a Chetnik commander who was responsible for the massacre is still there. That is the line we will not cross, even if it means we have to call new election”.

“Our demands are not right-wing, but normal and humane”

When asked whether it would be easier for the DP to negotiate with Andrej Plenkovic or Ivan Anusic from the HDZ, Penava said that the DP “respects all partners with whom we talk and does not blackmail who should negotiate on the other side”

Regarding the resignation of MP Vesna Vucemilovic from her party posts in the Croatian Sovereignists, he said that her statements in recent days had been very clear.

“If you look at the balance of power after this election, it is clear what the right is, what the conservative forces in the country are and what the other side is. Our demands are not right-wing demands, they are normal and humane,” he said.

DP MP Stipo Mlinaric said that the SDSS could not participate in the new government and that all those who were installed in the institutions by political means would have to leave after the change of government.

“Where is it written that the SDSS must participate in the government? Nowhere… Someone has to say it once and for all, enough of this deal. Even members of the Serb minority do not support the SDSS policy, because if they did, they would vote for them. In the census, 185,000 people identified themselves as Serbs, and 35,000 voted for the SDSS.”

Mlinaric said that the DP would not go back on what it had promised voters before the election on 17 April, neither for the post of prime minister nor for other ministerial posts if they were offered to them.