With parliamentary elections due soon, time for some political manoeuvring.
It is certain that the National Party – Reformists, led by former deputy prime minister Radimir Čačić, and the Forward Croatia Party, led by former president Ivo Josipović, will cooperate for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The only question is how.
Radimir Čačić, the president of the Reformists, said that they will be a centre alliance and that they are currently involved in serious discussions. "If we agree to have common electoral lists, that will be done on a national level", added Čačić, who said that they first have to form a coalition and only then talk about possible number of seats in the parliament.
"We believe that we will send a strong message. The public expects a coalition of moderate parties, and at this moment there are two relevant parties in the centre – Forward Croatia and us. We want to break the bipolar party system which has proven its incompetence, and quite often its corruption", said Čačić, adding that there is a very large space in the political centre which must have influence on the future of Croatia.
Asked whether the two parties, together with HDSSB, Most, Živi Zid and ORaH, could become necessary for any new ruling majority to emerge, Čačić said that he could not assess the future role of parties that do not cover the entire Croatian territory. "In our case, we are national parties and there is no doubt that the formation of new government will be influenced by the political centre, provided it joins its forces. There is no possibility that the two strongest coalitions – either left of centre, or right of centre – could get an absolute majority, because polls show that neither one of them is close to the majority", said Čačić.
Ivo Josipović said that the future ruling coalition will not be possible without members of parliament from parties which are outside the two big party blocks. "We will see what will be the balance of power at the time of the elections."
