POLITICS-CROATIA: Ruling Party’s Defeat Renews Hope For A New Era

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric-Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Jan 5 2000 (IPS) - The landslide victory by opposition parties in parliamentary elections in Croatia has renewed hopes for broader democratisation and for an end to international isolation after the autocratic rule of the late President Franjo Tudjman and his nationalist Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ).

Drazen Budisa, leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), that won the elections together with Social Democrats (SDP), has vowed to do “everything possible” to prove that “Croatia can do better”.

Addressing the nation after the election results were announced, Budisa said the new rulers in Croatia would “remove obstacles for broader democratisation” and also “remove obstacles that prevented contacts with Europe”.

Since the war in Bosnia ended in 1995 with Dayton Peace Accords, the West has grown estranged from Croatia, mostly because president Tudjman, who died last month, clung to his nationalist policies.

He made it difficult for some 200,000 Serb refugees to return to their homes in Croatia, and balked at turning over evidence to the UN international war crimes tribunal and obstructed efforts to nudge Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats into a federation.

In 1997, international financial institutions cut off relations with Croatia and economy witnessed sharp decline.

Budisa and his coalition partner Ivica Racan of SDP based their electoral campaign on promises to improve Croatia’s international image.

Both politicians are keen to prove that they can make the parliament a place where “the will of people will be mirrored, understood and promoted.”

If the electoral results stand as they do now, with SDP-HSLS coalition having 71 out of 151 legislators and another opposition group of four parties having 24, together with some minor parties they will have an historical chance – to change the constitution of Croatia.

The constitution, at it stands now, gives the president almost unlimited powers. Two-thirds majority is needed to change it.

Jadranko Crnic, until December the chairman of the Constitutional Court of Croatia, told journalists recently that the presidential powers must be reduced.

“Croatia needs to move in a more democratic direction,” said Crnic. “Everyone in every political party should accept the idea that there should never again be a president with as much power as (Tudjman) had under the current constitution. Everyone should agree that power should flow from the Parliament.”

“Such a possibility and the possibility for positive change is now greater than we had hoped for three months ago,” said a Western diplomat in the Serbia capital, Belgrade. “Even (Vladimir) Seks, leader of the nationalist wing of the HDZ, recently said ‘we have to go to a parliamentary system…with a head of state with limited powers’,” the diplomat pointed out.

The outcome of parliamentary elections in Croatia also attracted the attention of its neighbours – Bosnia and Serbia.

Mirza Hajric, political adviser to Bosnian leader Alija Izetbegovic, told journalists in Belgrade that he expected “positive changes” after nationalist HDZ lost the elections in Croatia.

“The political thesis of (Izetbegovic’s) Party for Democratic Action that weak Serbia and democratic Croatia mean stability for Bosnia-Herzegovina will be proven after these elections”, Hajric said.

The ruling parties in Serbia were tight lipped about the landslide victory of opposition in Croatia, fearing that the same might happen here in the near future. But the opposition parties and alliances welcomed the outcome of Croatian elections, calling it “a big encouragement for all the democratic forces in the region”.

Both HDZ in Croatia and Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialists in Serbia have ruled with an iron fist for the last ten years.

“We expect the positive effects of opposition victory to spread here” Vladan Batic, one of the leaders of Serbian opposition Alliance for Change told IPS. “The democratic, liberal option is on scene now in Croatia and we hope that the echo of such developments will reach voters here”.

Ognjen Pribicevic, political adviser to Vuk Draskovic, leader of the largest Serbian opposition party, Serbian Renewal Movement, said that Croatian voters have shown that “changes are needed and possible”.

“It’s a great encouragement for people here to learn that such things can be done” he told IPS.

In Serbia, those who welcomed HDZ’s defeat were mostly Serb refugees who fled the country in 1995 when Croatian army overran Serb-populated, rebellious Krajina region.

Mile Dakic, head of the Association of Refugees from Croatia, told IPS that the changes in Croatia mean improvement of relations between Serbia and its neighbour, and a renewed hope for the 200,000 Serbs who want to return to their homes.

“It’s clear that nothing will be as it was during Tudjman’s era in Croatia,” Dakic said. “We now see the clear possibility of returning to our homes, our property and our homeland. It’s very encouraging that HDZ and nationalists are out from power.”.