Two days after the parliamentary elections in Croatia, the Constitutional Court declared this Friday that President Zoran Milanović not Head of Government could be because, despite previous warnings, he Election campaign took part. The left-liberal camp reacted indignantly. The decision thwarted the plans of the opposition alliance led by the Social Democrats (SDP). Governing majority to put together and appoint Milanović as prime minister.
The president was considered the informal top candidate of the left-liberal opposition alliance “Rivers of Justice”. Officially, he was not allowed to run as a result of a decision by the Supreme Court because he refused to resign from his position.
Reminders ignored
“During the entire election campaign, Milanović behaved unconstitutionally,” said the President of the Constitutional Court, Miroslav Separovic, at a press conference the decision. Milanović has it Reminders of the Constitutional Court ignoredhe explained and emphasized that his statements and behavior put him in the position of a participant in the parliamentary elections, which was incompatible with his function as president.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
The Constitutional Court could do nothing, Milanović commented on the decision at a press conference. “The election is over. The will of citizens, projected into parliamentary mandates, will determine the Croatian executive, no one else, certainly not these judges,” he said. “The majority in parliament can appoint anyone they want to be head of government. There are no legal remedies against that,” he emphasized. As president, Milanović will give the order to form a government. He reiterated that whoever secured the support of at least 76 MPs would get it.
Milanović sees the decision as “preparation for a coup.” If Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic If he were to refuse to leave office in the near future, he could appeal to the Supreme Court, said the president, with a view to a possible change of government despite the conservative election victory HDZ by Plenkovic.
In an initial reaction, SDP leader Pedja Grbin spoke of a “disgrace” and emphasized that the Supreme Court’s decision was “below any standard”. He suggested that the Constitutional Court was helping the ruling HDZ party to stay in power. “This is the total panic and fear of a little dictator who has realized that he has lost the ground under his feet,” he said in the direction of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Criticism: “Unacceptable interference”
The co-chair of the left-green party Možemo (We Can), Sandra Benčić, criticized that it was an “inadmissible interference by the Constitutional Court in the political process of forming a government”. “We have never had a situation where the Constitutional Court has intervened in the formation of the government majority,” she said, adding that the Supreme Court obviously “chose the team it plays for.”
“By his behavior, President Milanović has put himself in a situation where he is excluded from becoming prime minister,” said the court president. He added that the Supreme Court could overturn a parliamentary decision appointing Milanović as head of government. The Constitutional Court is the protector of the constitution, and this decision will bring unconstitutional actions back into the constitutional framework, he said in the direction of the critics.
Šeparović emphasized that Milanović would not be able to become head of government even if he resigned now. The constitutional judges made the decision with nine votes to three. In their dissenting opinion, the three judges warned that the decision could be understood as an unconstitutional threat to the new parliament to “be careful what you do and who you support.”
