Lora Vidović is the new Ombudswoman

Lora Vidović is the new Ombudswoman, decided by the Croatian Parliament with a majority vote. The representatives of HDZ, the Croatian Labourists, and HDSSB did not participate in the election, having left the chamber in protest that the ruling party did not consult with the opposition regarding candidates for this position.

Lora Vidović, head of the UNICEF Office in Croatia, received 82 votes in a secret ballot, while her opponent Ivana Goranić, director of the Judicial Academy, received one vote.

The election was preceded by a debate in which HDZ and the Croatian Labourists accused the ruling party of lacking democratic practice in the election procedure, or of acting arbitrarily in deciding on such an important person responsible for human rights.

Davorin Mlakar, on behalf of HDZ, accused the ruling party of “raping the democratic procedure.” He objected that such an important election did not deserve a special agenda item, but was decided under the item ‘elections and appointments.’ He asked whether the Parliament would elect other officials in the same manner, for example, the governor of HNB or the chief state attorney. “We will not participate in such a farce, so you may choose yourselves,” he told the ruling party.

“You have eliminated consensus and parliamentarism from parliamentary procedure. If you do not need the opposition, we will not participate in this farce,” Branko Vukšić said on behalf of the Croatian Labourists, agreeing with HDZ’s request for a postponement of the election.
He told the ruling party that they had betrayed every trust in the appointment and that instead of electing quality candidates, they left doubts that they were choosing their political subordinates.

Igor Dragovan, however, on behalf of SDP, reminded that eight years ago, during the election of the Ombudswoman, the Constitutional Committee proposed Željko Thur, but the ruling party postponed the vote at the plenary session and ultimately proposed another candidate. “I am glad that you are calling for consensus. We will strive daily to improve dialogue and consensus, and I believe we will find common ground, but we take responsibility and believe in the proposal we submitted, which will be evaluated by the voters,” he said.

Dražen Đurović (HDSSB) accused SDP after Dragovan’s statement of behaving in the same pattern as HDZ and being ready for consensus on everything except for personnel matters.

The Parliament announced a competition for a new Ombudswoman after the first unsuccessful attempt at election in December, to which 12 candidates applied. After it was determined that all 12 candidates met the competition requirements, the Constitutional Committee conducted interviews with them.

On February 6, the Constitutional Committee proposed to the Parliament, through a secret ballot, to elect the new Ombudswoman from among Lora Vidović and Ivana Goranić, despite the fact that the Committee for Human and Minority Rights had singled out Lora Vidović and Lana Peto Kujundžić, a juvenile judge, as the best candidates. However, this opinion is not binding for the Constitutional Committee.