Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that he would "destroy and expose" the idea that his HDZ party had hijacked state institutions in Croatia. He added that this idea comes from political losers and those who either violate the constitution or support those who violate the constitution.

“This idea is aimed at pulling the wool over people’s eyes and saying it is up to us. And it is not up to us, the arguments are on our side,” Plenkovic said at a congress of the Dr Franjo Tudjman Association of HDZ founders, which elected the new leadership.

He added that the idea of hijacking state institutions was “one of the biggest lies” that would be used in the upcoming presidential elections to convince voters that “they should not put all their eggs in one basket.”

The opposition has misrepresented the situation in the country

The HDZ leader warned that over the past six months, the opposition, with the “violator of the Constitution” (President Zoran Milanovic), had made incredible efforts to portray the situation in the country as a crisis and catastrophe: “The election to the Croatian parliament also took place in an atmosphere where shameless ideas such as ‘either you are a human being or the HDZ, either Croatia or the HDZ, us or them’ were propagated.”

“We will not and must not forget this. And we must not allow the citizens of Croatia to forget that either,” he said, adding: “You can be wrong once, but if you are wrong twice, then you are stupid.”

“People should not be mistaken twice. Now we should help those who have been mistaken once not to be wrong a second time and see who respects the institutions, who respects the legal order and strives for economic and social progress,” Plenkovic said.

Jandrokovic: “This time the left will be ready for anything”

Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic also called for a mobilisation of the HDZ, its coalition partners and all citizens who support centre-right parties.

“This will be crucial, because this time the left will be ready for anything. You could see that from the moment Milanovic announced his candidacy. All those on the left who had questioned his work during his time in office, who had distanced themselves from him and criticised him, were all behind him as soon as he announced his candidacy, regardless of everything that had happened,” he said.

Jandrokovic believes that they are doing this because they are afraid that the HDZ could win another important victory. “They are afraid of this because then they would lose the last ‘lever’ of influence on the government in Croatia. That’s why they will do everything they can to ensure that Milanovic wins the election.”

Ivica Tafra was elected as the new president of the association and Josip Saric as his deputy.