ZAGREB, June 24, 2019 - Zoran Milanović who is running in the presidential race on behalf of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), entered the campaign entirely unprepared and did not show any political will or ideas of what he would do as the country's president whereas Miroslav Škoro, very convincingly presented his concept of reforms to the Constitution which would give the president more powers and is perceived by two analysts as a much better candidate for playing play a conciliatory role.

"Zoran Milanović entered the campaign completely unprepared without any new ideas and without any announcements of what his objectives as president would be. Unlike him, Miroslav Škoro very convincingly presented his concept of reforming the Constitution which would strengthen the role of the president," political analyst Davor Gjenero told Hina.

He underscored that the concept of "plebiscitary democracy" that Škoro is offering is de Gaulle's concept of ruling, to which the model of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic was adapted to and Croatia's Constitution on the most part emerged on the example of that model.

Gjenero briefly commented on Milanović saying that it seems that his candidacy is "a mere attempt to escape from the hard work in the business sector where he didn't achieve any great success."

Analyst Žarko Puhovski agreed with Gjenero saying that Milanović believes that his person and personality are enough of a platform for the presidential race. "The problem is that he is implicitly saying something similar to Škoro because our Constitution does not need a president with a strong personality. Our system requires a president as a mediator and conciliator and that is not a role that can be associated with Zoran Milanović," Puhovski told Hina.

He believes Škoro could have that role because he has shown to be polite and always rejects any radical formations and in that regard he could be a better candidate as a conciliator.

As far as the incumbent president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is concerned and her role as a conciliator, Puhovski thinks that she has been wandering - "she was very right and then a little in the centre and now is on the right again." "That is not conciliation. She did not show enough resoluteness. That is why Milanović's motto of a President with Character, is more a polemic with Grabar-Kitarović who did not show sufficient character," Puhovski said.

He said that Škoro is more or less a new face on the political scene but in fact represents Tudjman's old platform for the 21st century "but in a milder and less staunch way, because these are different times."

"That is a populist platform. Populism today is the latest fad and Škoro is in the know of what is happening in large world centres."

On the other hand, Puhovski thinks that Milanović is the man the left wants yet he does not want to be a candidate for the left unlike Grabar-Kitarović who wants to be the candidate for the right but the right does not want her.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 23, 2019 - Pop singer Miroslav Škoro announced in a video message on his Facebook page on Sunday morning that he would run for President, saying that his decision was prompted by his belief that Croatia needed a stronger constitutional role for its President.

He said that the gist of his platform was forming an alliance with the people rather than maintaining the rule of political elites who make compromises away from the public eye and against the will of the people.

"I want to be a people's president and accountable only to you," Škoro said, stressing that, if elected, his first move would be to call on Parliament to change the Constitution.

If this initiative is rejected, I will suggest that the Prime Minister call a constitutional referendum, and if he turns down my proposal, I will call on citizens to collect signatures for a referendum, he said, adding that in that case he would like to see who would dare try to ignore the will of the people.

Škoro said that the President of the Republic is the only office holder who represents the entire nation and who receives his or her mandate directly from the people. "That's why the political influence of the President should be proportional to this fact," he said, adding that he does not want to be a decorative president but one that will have enough powers to implement policies for which he has been elected by the people.

These powers should include calling referenda, convening government sessions, nominating candidates for Constitutional Court judges, and a temporary veto.

He stressed that the President must have the right to call a referendum without the Prime Minister's consent.

In a jibe at the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Škoro said he can't promise that Croatia will be among the richest countries in the world, but that he will use all his intellectual and entrepreneurial abilities in the service of the state. Alluding to former SDP prime minister Zoran Milanovic, who is also running for the presidency, he said that Croatia is not "an accidental state" and that he will prove that it is indeed a successful project that has been jeopardised by incompetent politicians.

"I want to restore trust in the institution of the President of the Republic and I need your vote so that together we can give fresh impetus to Croatian culture and science," he said and added that if elected, he will advocate the European Union as a community of equal and sovereign nations, rather than a federation or a unitary state, and will protect the interests of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighbouring countries and promote closer ties between Croatia and its diaspora.

Škoro said that illegal migration and terrorism are the biggest security threats to Croatia and that Croatia must win support from European partners to defend the common border of the European Union. He said that the modernisation of the Croatian army must continue so as to deter anyone with territorial claims on Croatia or anyone that may wish to bring Croatia into a subordinate position.

Škoro called on all disillusioned voters to go to the polls and help him return government to the people. He said that Croatia today is governed by a controlled party system, with the two strongest parties rotating in power and backed by their trading partners.

He said that the political elites are completely alienated from the people and arrogant to the extent that they use all sorts of tricks to prevent referendums. "The loss of trust in the institutions of the state has assumed worrying proportions, with some even referring to Croatia as an unsuccessful project," Škoro said.

He said that "hundreds and thousands of Croatian daughters and sons" have emigrated because they had no chance here without a party membership card. "They simply didn't want to live in a country in which a spiral of hatred and intolerance is eating away its very foundations. This is not the Croatia which our ancestors dreamt of, which Dr Franjo Tuđman set out to create and which Croatian defenders fought and died for."

Škoro said that the victory in the 1991-1995 Homeland War and the unity achieved during that time must be a starting point in the development of the modern Croatian state, and that in such circumstances Croatia needs a president that will be "a tool of the people" for a decisive change.

More news about elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 22, 2019 - Pop singer, composer, arranger and producer Miroslav Škoro will formally announce his bid for President of Croatia on Sunday morning, he wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday afternoon.

"As I have promised, I will announce my decision to run for President tomorrow at 9 am sharp on this Facebook page. I thank everyone ... for helping me reach this decision," the singer wrote.

Škoro has earned a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Economics in Osijek, where he was born in 1962. From 1995 to 1997, he served as Croatian Consul-General to Hungary. He ran in the 2007 parliamentary election as a candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party and became a member of parliament, withdrawing from politics a few years later. Apart from singing, he is also a successful businessman.

More news about the upcoming presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.