Croatian challenger berates PM Plenković days before bitterly fought election

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković “leads the most corrupt government” in the country’s history, President Zoran Milanović declaimed on Monday ahead of elections this week.

“Andrej Plenković does not mind the looting of the state and the corruption carried out by members of the HDZ cartel for years,” Milanović wrote in a Facebook post, referring to Plenković’s Christian Democratic Union. “But he is bothered by those who talk about it and the media that still freely write about his crime and corruption.”

On Sunday, the Croatian outlet Nacional published a leaked recording of an HDZ meeting that took place behind closed doors last Saturday, in which Plenković ranted that the media — which he called the “axis of evil” — were going easy on Milanović.

“He’s being treated like a God-given candidate, instead of everyone destroying him,” Plenković said, claiming he was being targeted by a “clique of left-wing media” trying to bring down his ruling party.

Croatia’s parliamentary elections, which have been preceded by a savage campaign, will be held Wednesday.

Voters will be choosing between Plenković’s ruling conservative HDZ and an opposition comprising smaller centrist and left-wing parties, led informally by the populist Milanović and his Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Milanović announced his candidacy for prime minister March 15; two days later, Croatia’s constitutional court blocked him from running until his presidential term ends in February 2025. Milanović, however, refused to quit as president and campaigned as an SDP candidate regardless.

If Milanović’s SDP does well in the Wednesday ballot, the party could find itself on track for victory in the June EU election as well as in Croatia’s December presidential election. Such a scenario would challenge the HDZ’s long political dominance and potentially foster stronger pro-Russian sentiment in the country, given Milanović’s past pro-Kremlin positions.

Both front-runners engaged in vicious attacks during a harsh parliamentary contest.

Milanović, for example, called Plenković a “dictator” for introducing “Lex AP” — an anti-leaks bill criticized by journalists as an attempt to suppress the media — and pledged to abolish it if his SDP is elected.

“The free media are a threat to Plenković’s criminal regime and if he cannot buy them, he will silence them with repression and force,” Milanović said.

In an interview published Monday with Croatian outlet Jutarnji list, Plenković retorted that the anti-leaks law served to “harmonize the legal regulation with European practice.”

Saying it was “funny” that Milanović was even a candidate, and noting that his possible rivals had mysteriously “disappeared” from the field, Plenković said: “He insults journalists, judges, calls women concubines. He lacks political culture and filters.”

Plenković’s HDZ leads the race with 32 percent, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, while the SDP trails with 22 percent.