Payment of Membership Fees a Stone of Contention Before the Election for the President of the Zagreb SDP

The Main Board of the SDP met on Sunday to establish the rules for the elections for county organizations and the City of Zagreb, which, according to unofficial information, are proposed for June 9.

Even before the meeting, there were expressions of dissatisfaction and criticism regarding the provision that members will not be able to vote if they have unpaid membership fees for more than six months on the day of the decision to call the elections. This is a statutory provision, but the problem is that members do not know whether and how much they owe because organizations have not sent them payment slips for months. Some candidates for president warn that the electoral process in the Zagreb SDP is contaminated.

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Dissatisfaction has particularly escalated in the Zagreb organization where, as is said in party circles, one of the four candidates for president was the only one who had access to the party’s database, and payment slips were sent selectively so that part of the membership could access the elections while others did not receive them. Allegedly, this concerns Denis Hrestak, according to the SDP, the favorite of SDP president Davor Bernardić. Alongside him, candidacies have also been announced by Aleksandra Kolarić, Gordan Maras, and Alen Čičak.

Although she is not a member of the Main Board, Kolarić requested permission to participate in the discussion on electoral rules, which was granted to her, and before the meeting, she told reporters that “in order for the Zagreb SDP to strengthen, the elections must be free, democratic, fair, and there must be equal rules for all.” She assessed that the elections are contaminated because “very serious doubts have arisen that one of the candidates had access to the member database, moreover, that he had a list of voters.”

“I do not claim that this is the case, but the doubts are very serious, so both I and the other two candidates are requesting verification of these doubts because my goal is for as many Zagreb members as possible to participate in the elections,” Kolarić said.

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“We can only be a strong party if a large number of voters turn out for the elections. A president elected with 500 members is not a president who has legitimacy. Such a president would further weaken the current SDP,” Kolarić believes. “The problem with membership fees is that none of the candidates who are not candidates of the oligarchy had any information on who owes how much. Our members have not received payment slips for months and do not know how much they owe. Given that serious doubts have arisen that the elections are contaminated, I will propose that the right to vote be granted to everyone. This is the only way for these elections to be democratic,” she stated.

Maras also emphasizes that the SDP should have transparent elections, as it has always been, and hopes it will be so in the future. “Those responsible for the electoral process in the party must organize elections for the members, not so that one person becomes the president of the city organization. This is not organized for a narrow circle of people. I expect those responsible in the party to ensure that such a process occurs, and not to alienate themselves from the members of the party,” Maras pointed out.

“It is in the party’s interest for as many people as possible to participate in the elections in the SDP. Calling elections without informing people whether they owe membership fees or not makes no sense. I expect those responsible to ensure that the electoral process is such that as many people as possible participate in the elections. That is why I ran for office, to change such a situation in the Zagreb SDP. Whoever is satisfied with what we have in Zagreb will likely push for these contaminated elections. I do not know if one candidate gained access to the database, but if it is true that someone managed the SDP database for six months, that is unacceptable,” he concluded.

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Before the start of the discussion on electoral rules, the president of the Main Board, Erik Fabijanić, reminded reporters that the obligation to pay membership fees is statutory, and he accompanied the dissatisfaction regarding this provision with the comment that “if someone is a member, then they pay their membership fees regularly and do not forget about it.”

After the discussion on electoral rules, the Presidency of the SDP will meet during the break to consider amendments, after which the Main Board will vote to make a final decision.