“What is not clear?” asked the president Zoran Milanović March 17 in Lipovljani – exactly one month before today’s address of the Constitutional Court – when he detailed his plan for the elections to the gathered journalists in these words:
“As a citizen, I will come with the signatures of the majority of the assembled members of the Croatian Parliament to the person who will hold the position of President of the State at that moment, and that will be the new President of the Parliament, not Jandroković, to whom they would like to hand you over if I were to resign now. He is not coming not even an inch of power to those dubious types. Among them, Jandroković is the least suspicious, but he can’t earn it in the elections, it can’t be stolen. After I resigned, I come as a citizen with the signatures of the parliament president at that moment the president of the republic pro tempore, what is not clear? I do not give the mandate to myself, it is given to me by another person and I form the GovernmentMilanović said, adding that “you have to be an inert brain not to understand what is written in the Constitution”.
However, today – the last day when it is possible to do something like this – the Constitutional Court made it clear in another announcement that it cannot be done that way. President Milanović – said the President of the Constitutional Court Miroslav Šeparović – cannot be a mandate holder, but neither can the future prime minister.
“Starting from its constitutional powers, the Constitutional Court determines that by his statements and behavior the President of the Republic, without previously resigning from the office of President, has put himself in a position where he can neither be a mandate holder for the composition of the Government nor the Prime Minister”said Šeparović.
Gordan Čular on the constitutionally impossible situation
Violent reactions followed. Infuriated, the professor of political science would say Goran Čular from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, who says that they never cease to amaze him. The Constitutional Court – whatever it does now – will do it wrong because this is a constitutionally impossible situation,” says Čular for Danas.hr.
“The whole situation is absurd, and it became so the moment Milanović said he would be prime minister, but he did not resign. If he had resigned, none of this would have happened. Now we have what we have, so we count ‘timing’ and ‘ vording’, should the Constitutional Court have reacted sooner, is this too much…” says Čular.
He reminds that the elections end only when the Constitutional Court issues its ruling that the elections were held constitutionally and legally. From that day, 20 days for the constitution of the parliament begin to run.
“The Constitutional Court should say that these elections were not carried out constitutionally. The next step would be to call the elections again,” Čular believes, stressing that it is a “nuclear strike” that no one wants to resort to, but at the same time it is forgotten that is a “nuclear weapon” Milanović himself drew when he participated in the parliamentary elections. The constitution, namely, does not function by itself, but only when political actors accept it.
“There is no other way. If political actors do not accept the Constitution, it will not work and we are here now because one political actor did not accept it. Not even the smartest Constitutional Court can get out of this situation. It would be best for the Constitutional Court to resign – but no because of their decisions, but because apparently Croats don’t really know how to exercise democracy in which there is a Constitution and a Constitutional Court. Somehow, it doesn’t work for us,” says Čular.
What would happen if the SDP got 61 mandates?
The Constitutional Court, of course, could not avoid slipping on such slippery ground. Although today he asserted that President Milanović “continuously violated the warning” during the campaign, the Constitutional Court at the same time assessed that this did not affect the will of the voters to the extent that the announcement of a new election date would be necessary for the time being. Therefore, it is impossible not to ask: would the Constitutional Court have the same opinion today if the HDZ had won 42 and the SDP 61 mandates in the elections?
“They implicitly admitted that whether you influence the election depends on what the result is. Well, if the HDZ won, then it didn’t influence the election, and if it was the SDP, then it was. And the fact that they banned the SDP was catastrophic , but the main thing is that Milanović started it all,” says Čular.
“Who will now oppose the people’s decision? What is the people’s decision? If one party got 61 and the other got 42? Everyone comments that two-thirds of citizens are against the HDZ. Well, in Europe, the leading party doesn’t get 70 percent of the votes, it gets 30 to 35 percent. You can’t ignore some things. Let whoever wants to form the government, the situation is such that you have as many combinations as you want,” says Čular, stressing that Most prevents Milanović from being prime minister. Let’s remind you, namely, he is a mostovac Nikola Grmoja recently said that he will not support Milanović for prime minister.
Čular, on the other hand, continues that it is not up to the Constitution to specify things such as the fact that the president of the state cannot compete in parliamentary elections.
“After all, only then would you run into a problem because you cannot specify everything. Milanović is the most responsible for all of this, and the effect of this is doubtful: he clearly did not do much for the SDP even now Peđa Grbin and Milanović have to live with the fact that in terms of strength, mathematically, they got as much as the former head of the SDP Davor Bernardić who subsequently resigned. And Grbin is not resigning,” says Čular.
Hypothetical scenario
Commenting on today’s announcement by the Constitutional Court, that Milanović cannot be a mandate holder and consequently not even a prime minister, Čular explains:
“If the Constitutional Court has already said that he cannot be a mandate holder because of the entire procedure in which he, as the president of the state, is involved in the parliamentary elections – which in itself is an unconstitutional role – then he cannot be the prime minister either. It is usual that someone who receives a mandate for the composition of the Government, I am not sure, but I don’t think that there have been cases in Europe where the mandate holders have formed governments with someone else as the prime minister details, which do not enter into what was initiated after this latest decision of the Constitutional Court.”
Čular believes that the way the opposition is trying to remove HDZ from power – first by involving Milanović, and then by attacking the Constitutional Court – is not necessary. However, since we are where we are, in an absurd situation that makes any subsequent analysis equally pointless, we asked Čular to answer us whether the following hypothetical scenario is now possible: that, for example, the mandate on the left is some third person who will give President Milanović bring 76 signatures, after which Milanović gives a mandate for the composition of the Government, then resigns from the position of president and then, as a citizen, is elected by parliamentarians as prime minister, even though he was not a mandate holder?
“It is possible,” answers Čular. “It is not common, but it is possible. The Constitution does not say that the person who received the mandate must be the prime minister. Milanović gives the mandate to a third person, that person forms the Government, goes before the parliament and represents the Government in which Milanović is the prime minister.”
In this context, it is perhaps no coincidence that the Constitutional Court said today that Milanović cannot be a mandate holder, but neither can he be a prime minister, even if he gives the mandate to someone else and resigns. To that extent, it is clearer that the Constitutional Court’s warning about the “nuclear” re-convening of elections remains the only way to put salt on the tail of the rebellious president. However, the damage has already been done. Even in the scenario of repeated elections, who can say that all this circus and the current election results will not have an impact on the new elections? No one at all.
WATCH THE VIDEO: Zoran Milanović after the decision of the Constitutional Court:
