President Ivo Josipovic, commenting on the statement by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor that he should "return to his constitutional framework", said on Monday that he was firmly adhering to his powers and was not departing from them.
"Just in case anyone thinks I have overstepped my powers, there is an institution called the Constitutional Court," Josipovic told reporters on the northern Adriatic archipelago of Brijuni.
Josipovic said that it was the government and the prime minister who were misreading the Constitution, reiterating that the prime minister should have a legal expert to interpret for her "not just the Constitution but some laws too."
Speaking of December 4 as the election date proposed by the ruling coalition, Josipovic said that he had drawn attention to the provision that the President has the final say in calling elections.
"I have read the constitutional law, which says that elections must be held solely on a non-working day. That's why I warned about the need for a legal interpretation, but that doesn't mean that the elections will be held on a work day," Josipovic said, adding that he was not thinking about the election date today, least of all elections being held on a work day.
"Instead of replying how it is possible that she misread a legal regulation, the prime minister speaks about election costs. She gets off the subject too often," Josipovic said.
Josipovic went on to say that he had also been accused recently that he would side with the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and that his popularity would help the SDP in the elections. He reiterated that he could not have a direct impact on the SDP's performance in the elections because he was not active in the party, stressing that he would in no way participate in the election campaign.
Josipovic, however, said that he would raise important subjects to get political parties to declare their views on important social issues.
"It's hard for me to say whether some citizens, by indirectly accepting my work, will also accept the political background from which I came to the position of President. That's possible, but even if it is so, it will certainly not decide the elections," Josipovic said.
Josipovic concluded by saying that there was a novelty on the political scene in that "one political bloc is not confronting the other bloc, but someone who is not running in the elections at all."
