A STEP TOWARDS DICTATORSHIP

AIM, ZAGREB, February 21, 1996

The parliamentary crisis in Zagreb continues. President Tudjman did not approve Jozo Rados, the second mayor elected by the associated opposition parties. Neither threats from the Council of Europe nor Kinkel's statement on Tudjman's comic view of democracy were of any help so that even three months after the elections in which the opposition won about 60 percent of the votes, Zagreb is still ruled by the administration which has been in office since 1993. First by protocolary ruses the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) stalled with the constituting of the Municipal Assembly, then it initiated an unheard of campaign against the liberal Goran Granic and now President Tudjman has not only not approved the other liberal - Jozo Rados, but has sent a letter to the Association of seven opposition parties in the form of an accusation which even Beria would not be ashamed of.

In that political pamphlet which was presented on television in the same way as the invitation to the Serbs to remain in their homes during the "Storm", and which the lieberal, Ivo Skrabalo assesses as equally (in)sincere with regard to the part in which it invites the opposition to cooperate, Tudjman accused the opposition of no less than treason. Namely, the Croatian President claims that opposition parties are doing everything to win over curious and interested foreign circles for the discrediting, destabilization and replacement of the democratically elected authorities in independent and sovereign Croatia.

"By false claims based on the arbitrary and wrong interpretation of the law" - writes Tudjman - "you are deluding the public, wishing not only to win it over for your party interests, but also to mobilize it against the existing first democratic authorities in free Croatia. And those authorities have, even in the case of approving the municipal leaders of Zagreb, consistently applied constitutional and legal regulations so as to ensure the normal functioning of the constitutional and legal system. Those authorities could not allow the association of your parties, from the extreme left to the extreme right, to disrupt it. By abusing the democratic system, the association of your parties and your parties individually are violating democracy by refusing to cooperate with the democratic party under whose leadership Croatia won its independence and freedom, and which is moreover a majority party according to the results of the elections to the Croatian state Parliament and one which also won a majority at the local elections in Zagreb".

However, the opposition immediately returned tit for tat replying: "It is your right, Mr.President of the Republic of Croatia not to approve the elected Mayor, but you do not have the right to accuse without arguments all those advocating democracy but not in full agreement with you in all respects. Do you, Mr.President, really think that these foreign circles need to be "won over" by us, and to listen to explanations of circumstances prevailing here so as to understand what is in question? You repeat that you could not let the "normal functioning of the constitutional order" be disrupted by the Association of our parties which had the aim of "replacing precisely these democratic authorities at any cost". No one has the right to such imputations. Perhaps the President of a political party can speak thus, but not the President of the Republic".

The seven parties then asked the President "about the purpose of the democratic elections and the won majority of votes when that, as you say, undermines the stability and international position of Croatia?" An even more precise analysis of Tudjman's letter was given by the until recent President of the Croatian Social-Liberal Party, Drazen Budisa, calling it "a first-class pamphlet by a man who has lost his sense of reality to the detriment of democracy and national interest. It is difficult to foresee the consequences of the political chaos and unrest caused by the contents of this letter, while Tudjman's hard-core position and failure to accept the election results raise the issue of the introduction of a dictatorship in Croatia".

Tudjman has thus opted for the harsh variant making it completely clear that he neither wishes to give up or share power, especially not such an important piece of it as is Zagreb. It is now completely clear that it is not a question of names, because Tudjman would never accept anyone who is not from the HDZ, and that the entire primitive hunt against Goran Granic and partly against Jozo Rados, was only a spice. In this letter of his, Tudjman actually opened his cards and indirectly showed what could happen if the HDZ lost power at the level of the state or if he were defeated at the 1997 presidential elections. It is no longer either comical or funny, but tragic because according to Budisa Croatia is moving towards a dictatorship. It is clear that those "45 years of them and 45 years of us" was no joke, but a programme. And claims that giving up to the opposition what is rightfully his would call in question democracy and the state system confirm that this is definitely the most typical example of a party and ideological creation.

In order to achieve their aim Tudjman and the HDZ are trying to change the election results by buying off the municipal deputies of Zagreb, as done so far in Rijeka, Split, Samobor and some other cities. In addition, they will try to postpone for as long as possible the repeating of the elections in Zagreb, although under all possible legal variants, they should be held within 60 days. Despite everything, the cards have at least have been thrown on the table. Tudjman has more openly than ever before informed the opposition that he will not give up power to it, even if he loses at the elections, and it has informed him, through the mouth of the liberal Ivo Skrabalo: General, we are not afraid of you!

GOJKO MARINKOVIC