The most absurd electoral statement has come from Požega. HDZ representative Franjo Lucić claimed that ‘we have six times better projected painful cuts in our economic program than Božo Petrov.’ They just couldn’t talk about them before the elections ‘because we would scare people and they wouldn’t vote for us.’
As ridiculous as it may seem at first glance, it actually encapsulates the tragedy of the Croatian political system: we will lie to you endlessly just to win the elections, and then we will do as we please anyway. In this way, Lucić becomes the legitimate successor of the party comrade Andrija Hebrang, who is remembered for the legendary: ‘‘I never lie. I only occasionally speak untruths. That is much more polite.’.
