A Candidate is Sought to be the New Generation Stipe Mesić

From a formal legal perspective, this year we have another election. And it is supposedly the most democratic one. We will directly elect the president of the state. Or the president, so as not to be discriminatory. Most directly. Without the possibility of voting for Marko and getting Janko. Because that is how the party, list, movement, platform, whatever decided… However, this complete freedom of choice has its limits, defined by old customs.

I will not say that old structures or, worse, some UDBA or KOS, the old deep state, still successfully control all electoral processes in today’s Croatia. Because that sounds very backward and crude, like some conspiracy theory. No, there is no UDBA, no KOS, none of those old networks… There are only people and customs that vigilantly care for our well-being. Thus, these people who are never in the foreground and customs that are not recorded in any law will ensure that we choose what is best for us this time. The one who will be the best president for all of us.

Party Experience

Customs dictate that every serious candidate for the president of the Republic of Croatia must have at least some minor experience in the old Party. At least a filled application form, if they did not manage to pick up the membership book at the post office, because the so-called democratic changes occurred. Dear (potential) candidates, if you do not believe it, look at how candidate Dražen Budiša fared in the presidential elections of 2000, who was openly against the Party and the Yugoslav one-party system since his student days. Or five years later, Mr. Boris Mikšić, a successful Croatian-American entrepreneur, who was turned into a fraud, a failure, and a bully by the free Croatian media in a week of the election campaign. And learn from history.

So, the membership book should be taken seriously. If the candidate is really too young and has not managed to obtain a membership book, they should at least look for their grandfather’s book or perhaps their grandmother’s memorial. Like Kolinda, for example. A firm and correct family foundation is even more important than party experience. And as our democratic era ages, say in about 50 years, when it will probably be difficult to find a candidate to whom Mika Špiljak ceremoniously handed the party membership book, family heritage will remain the only reliable filter for presidential candidates.

Those who pass this first electoral filter need to pay attention to the unwritten custom of Croatian democracy: never put all your eggs in one basket. Not even in 1990 did the entire Party transition to HDZ. Some remained. Applied to presidential elections, this rule about eggs and baskets means – when the (alleged) right is in Banski dvori, the (alleged) left democratically conquers Pantovčak. But it is not that simple as: HDZ governs, SDP has the president’s office. Or, Plenković governs, Milanović has the president’s office. This presidential candidate has other conditions to meet. Above all, they must compensate for the longing for Yugoslav non-alignment, which is not easy after both Yugoslavia and non-alignment have collapsed.

But it can be done. It can be done so that the president shows constant defiance and contempt for the West, as in the time of his ancestors. To mock the EU, to perceive NATO as an imperialist pact, to see the US as the source of the greatest evils, and to avoid the White House at all costs, to associate only with those who are fighting against the West and openly cheer for Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, regardless of whether they are from the political left or right: from Brazil’s ultra-left Luiz Inácio Lula, through Turkish Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Hungarian Viktor Orbán. To keep the ‘region’s’ politics alive through Milorad Dodik. To adopt the concepts of statehood and sovereignty with crude rhetoric and banalize them to the utmost limits. To constantly underline Plenković’s pro-European and pro-Western note, even though for him politically the West ends at La Manche. And to do all this as if it were not programmed and predetermined, as if it were truly his – character. In fact, a candidate is sought to be the new generation Stipe Mesić.

Elections as Real

For now, we have four announced or published candidacies. But, if you missed it, we actually already have a president. We have Stipe Mesić of the new generation. Who has nothing to do if he is not president. And now it is time to call the spin masters to organize the elections. As if they were real. Due to savings, they will apply the ‘2 in 1′ formula this time as well. That in the morning, the candidates’ advisors are in the election headquarters, and in the evening independent analysts in the media. It is up to you to guess which candidate is real. And to choose. Choose freely.