Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) president Tomislav Karamarko on Monday reiterated his regret for the poor turnout to Sunday's election for the European Parliament, which he blamed on the "government's poor and unfair tactics", but he expressed his belief that the HDZ would have achieved an even better result had the election been held in May together with the local election.
Asked if he was concerned because of the poor turnout of barely 20%, Karamarko told Croatian Radio that ahead of the election he had called on citizens to vote.
"The government, however, did everything for the turnout to be low. The government expected to make use of a murky situation, they expected few voters and their disciplined voters to be in the majority, but I think their poor and unfair tactics backfired", he said.
He recalled that during consultations with President Ivo Josipovic, he had said that it would be best for both elections to be held jointly. "I am convinced that the turnout would have been higher but the president did not agree. On the other hand, the government spent HRK 85 million to get one candidate more because I am certain that in May we would have defeated them even more", Karamarko said.
He is convinced that any date for the election would have gone in favour of the HDZ. "Timing would have been in our favour in any case, because we are rising more and more, getting better and better, and in May we would have been even better", he said.
Karamarko dismissed claims that the HDZ's victory has turned Croatia to the right, stating that "this is being said by those who are not familiar with the political scene and don't know what it means to be left or right".
The reporter observed that such claims probably referred to statements made during campaigning by the president of the Croatian Party of Rights Dr. Ante Starcevic (HSP AS), Ruza Tomasic, who won the most preferential votes on the HDZ-HSP AS-BUZ slate. Karamarko said that her statements were taken out of context.
"First and foremost, one should see what she said, that what she said was taken out of context, that she (later) explained very well what she had said and meant. What does right and left mean? In Croatia is what is patriotic right and what is un-national left?"
Even though Karamarko considers the results of yesterday's election to be a message to the ruling coalition that citizens are unsatisfied with the government, he underscored that the election result was proof that the HDZ was strengthening.
Asked whether he thought the results would strengthen his position in the party, Karamarko said that he wouldn't think of it in that way. "These results strengthen the HDZ's position and that is what is most important".
He said that the party would employ the same tactic, campaigning "door to door", in the coming local elections. "Intensive work in the field is what raised us in the past 11 months because we had the media against us", said Karamarko, claiming that some media violated the election blackout to the detriment of his party.
He reiterated that the HDZ would not call for an early parliamentary election before Croatia joins the European Union, adding though that the government was leading the country in the wrong direction and that he feared "that the situation will indicate that an election is the only solution".
