ZAGREB, December 23, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who is running for re-election in a second round against Zoran Milanović, called on Sunday on all voters to vote for her, notably those who supported Miroslav Škoro in today's first round of the presidential election.
Grabar-Kitarović thanked everyone who voted today, saying they had shown that it was important that the president was elected by the people in a direct election. She congratulated the other candidates on their election results.
She criticised Milanovic and called on those who voted for Škoro today to vote for her in the runoff. "I had a fellow candidate in my political spectrum, unlike Milanovic. But now we must all come together and win."
Grabar-Kitarović thanked everyone in the ruling HDZ party who supported her when she was being called out over alleged mistakes and misinterpreted, "although I've never done anything that would damage Croatia and the Croatian people."
She called on everyone to vote "for a better Croatia" in the runoff.
"That will be a vote for five years of intense fighting, intense working for our Croatia. I have shown industriousness, work and determination. My second term will be a daily fight for change in our society which, unfortunately, is still divided on futile ideological issues and historical disputes. That takes us back and we are fed up with it. We are tired of that, let's go into the future."
Grabar-Kitarović underlined the need for unity, rallying around the same goals, which she said was the key to success. "All of us, not us or them, but all of us. We are all Croatia, one Croatia with equal opportunities for all."
In this election, we are electing the person who will continue to be with the people over the next five years and who will "listen to what you have to say," she said.
We are electing a president who will come from, work for and fight for the people. And when I win your trust again, I will again fight on Croatia's behalf for a place in the first row, for Croatia, not for myself, Grabar-Kitarović said.
She said she did need more powers. "Your trust is my biggest power. You are at the centre of my programme and my policy, not I."
Addressing those who did not vote for her, she said she knew that in doing so they expressed a certain dissatisfaction. "Your message is perfectly clear to me. I've heard it, I understand it. But now is not the time for new divisions. 'Us or them' must not be Croatia's policy again."
We must not allow the destruction of the policy of unity and a return to the policy of ideological conflicts, she said. "The goal and pattern are always the same - divide and discourage all patriots and then a minority calling themselves 'us' will rule. I won't let that happen."
After 15 years of wandering, we finally found the right course and I dictated the pace of that course and will continue to do so, she said.
Commenting on Milanović's stance that the president should be elected in parliament, Grabar-Kitarović said one should wonder why he was running for president if he thought he could achieve nothing.
"Today's vote has shown that the Croatian people wants to elect its president in a direct election, but a president who will work for the people and fight for the people... I will do so in the next five years."
She called on those who did not vote today to rally around her programme. "It's a vote for an even better Croatia, for a Croatia tailored to everyone's needs, for a Croatia which believes in democracy, which wants more, not less democracy, and for a president who works, who is among you, with you and for you."
"My Croatia is a Croatia for all. That's the only path and let's take it now, tonight already," Grabar-Kitarović said, adding that she would be "the voice and the hands of the people."
More news about Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović can be found in the Politics section.
