Opačić: Bernardić is turning SDP into a ‘sect of friends’; Maras: We have a leadership crisis

SDP Member of Parliament Milanka Opačić stated on Tuesday that she is appalled by the statement of the party president Davor Bernardić that those who are dissatisfied with the party’s work can leave, asserting that he wants to turn the party into a ‘sect of friends’.

– I was appalled by the statement of the party president that those who are dissatisfied with the club’s work can leave the Club because there are many who want to take our place. The party president is a person who should gather people, keep them together, attract new people to the party. Unfortunately, this one is scattering people and sending us a message to leave, said Opačić in Parliament.

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She assessed that those who voted for Bernardić are “clearly deceived” because, as she claims, he said during the election campaign that all people would be welcome.

– As far as we can see, he is now trying to create, not a party, but a sect of his friends. The party is not a society of friends; people gather in the party for ideas, programs, and certain values. Unfortunately, yesterday’s message was – everyone who does not think like me can leave the club and the party. Unfortunately, he has surrounded himself with people who have never known how to deal with problems, but rather ran away from those problems, asserted Opačić.

When asked by journalists if she was referring to Zlatko Komadina, she answered affirmatively.

– Yes, I am referring to Zlatko Komadina who fled from the Government. He was not chased away; he resigned because he could not cope with the problems in his department, she said.

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She also commented on the decline in SDP’s rating, which she believes can only be stopped with a new party president and new leadership. “With this team, I think that rating will remain at this level or may even fall further,” asserted Opačić.

She explained that the removal of the party president can be initiated by county organizations. “People on the ground must decide whether they have the will for SDP as a large party to survive or whether we will turn into a sect of Davor Bernardić’s friends,” she said.

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We need to end the situation in which people are leaving the party and mass resigning and have become passive and demotivated, she concluded.

Bernardić’s statement was also commented on by top SDP members Gordan Maras and Ranko Ostojić on their Facebook pages.

Maras: We have a leadership crisis, I am fighting as much as I can

– I feel the need to apologize for such messages and meetings. I am an SDP member, I fight for my views, I know who my political opponent is and to whom I answer. I answer to those who elected me. I answer to you! I will not analyze now, but it is evident that we have a leadership crisis, that things are not functioning, and I will do everything to change that. The criticism also goes to me, although I am fighting as much as I can. I will never give up on you who elected me and on SDP!, Maras stated on his Facebook profile.

Ranko Ostojić, on his Facebook profile, stated that he left a meeting on Tuesday, but not from SDP or what is left of it.

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– I will leave when those who elected me decide. I only know that a lie, even if repeated a thousand times, remains a lie, he wrote.

Peđa Grbin did not want to comment on Bernardić’s statement and the situation in SDP but only stated that there will be opportunities to discuss internal party conditions.