Selak Raspudić first official candidate for upcoming presidential elections

On Saturday independent Member of Parliament Marija Selak Raspudić officially announced her candidacy for Croatian President at the upcoming elections, thus becoming the first candidate to officially enter the presidential election race.

In presenting her candidacy Marija Selak Raspudić emphasized that Croatia's interest must come above all others, adding that she believes in the constitutional ideal of the President of the Republic. Her campaign slogans are “Marija for Croatia” and “More than Character”, with the latter serving as her notice that she can stand toe to toe with the incumbent Zoran Milanović in the campaign: “As far as I know President Milanović is a bit of a joker, so we I'm sure he'll enjoy this. Character cannot be a purpose unto itself. When you become a slave to your own character, and when the country becomes a slave to your character, then you have what we are seeing today.”

This she said was visible in Milanović's failure to achieve key political agreements. Selak Raspudić also emphasized that she was entering the race as an independent, free of party pressures: “That's how I'm entering this candidacy and I am stating clearly that I am the only one who can finally bring an end to the party politicization of the Croatian Armed Forces. Just how dangerous this is given the challenging contemporary security environment, is best shown by what we are seeing in recent days. When, not just all of Croatia, but the entire world, including our immediate neighbors, can see that our chain of command is at odds. There is no greater security threat than for other people to see that we ourselves cannot agree on how to defend Croatia.”

Selak Raspudić also said that she will advocate for strengthening the president's powers in one segment, and that is to have veto rights over laws that deal with civil liberties: “However, that power, given that we need to understand the Constitution, cannot be absolute. It must controlled by a two-thirds majority in Croatian Parliament.”

So far, more than ten candidates have announced their plans to run in the presidential elections, with that number likely to increase in the coming weeks, as potential candidates have to submit their candidacies to the State Election Commission within twelve days from the calling of the election by government, which it is expected to do by mid-November.

Slaven Hojski from the State Election Commission commented on the exact date for the holding of the presidential elections: “As for the possible dates, the most likely is December 22nd or December 29th of this year for the first round of the vote, which automatically means January 5th or January 12th of next year for the second round.”

The presidential elections will round out this so-called super election year in Croatia, in which citizens have already voted in elections for Croatian Parliament and European Parliament.

Source: HRT