Another party joins the election race in Croatia
It's been a while since he appeared in the news, but former Split Mayor Željko Kerum made sure he opened his election campaign in style.
Making his speech and presenting his list under the big cross he erected during his reign as mayor certainly will go down as one of the more unusual election gatherings in the 2015 campaign. Not only did he change the name of his party so it is now known as Željko Kerum - Croatian Civic Party (Hrvatska Građanska Stranka), he also made sure he included his entire family, neighbours and closest friends on his ballots in both units where his party is running - electoral units IX and X.
So, while he has taken the number 1 spot in the tenth electoral unit, his sister, one and only Nevenka Bečić will head the ballot in unit 9. Along with the dynamic duo, Kerum's wife, son-in-law, two brother-in-laws, director of his hotel Cornaro, niece and nephew and so on.
Kerum commented his chances in the upcoming elections: " Looking at the ballots, I can say the competition is quite awful, 60% of the people are not even from Dalmatia so it has never been easier to get into the Parliament. We didn't import any strangers from Zagreb, these are all people that live actively participate in the life of Dalmatia".
When asked why he decided to hold the press conference under the cross Kerum said." I hope the cross and Jesus Christ will give me the wisdom, brains and strength to pull this country out of the current crisis. Competition selected the statue of dr. Franjo Tuđman and I expect SDP will start their campaign in Split from the West coast since it is impossible not to come across one of the projects I made while I was Mayor" Kerum said confidently.
As far as his programme or manifesto goes, he didn't spend much time on it. His party is in favour of decentralisation and since HDZ and SDP are currently almost tied, he is hoping his party will be the decisive factor in the parliament. Lets just hope if he does get into parliament, he'll occasionally show up, which wasn't exactly the case in his previous term.
