#newsonleo #croatia #politics Homeland Movement (DP), right-wing party that is currently part of Andrej Plenković's government coalition today lost its sole MEP following acrimonious party convention. 1/
#newsonleo #croatia #politics Homeland Movement (DP), right-wing party that is currently part of Andrej Plenković's government coalition today lost its sole MEP following acrimonious party convention. 1/
2/ DP convention elected Ivan Penava, Vukovar mayor, for party leader, while his rival Mario Radić left convention together with 39 out of 103 delegates, following decision not to use secret ballot at election.
Radić and his supporters announced that they would leave DP, while 3 of 11 members of Croatian Parliament announced that they would serve as independent candidates.
Stijepo Bartulica, MEP for DP elected in June, also announced that he would leave party and serve in Strassbourg as independent.
3/ Split between Penava and Radić occured few months after DP became part of new governing majority, by making coalition with HDZ, centre-right party that rules Croatia since 2015.
Coalition caused the split within DP, with some members being unhappy over DP disregarding campaign election promises and failing to win single concession from HDZ during post-election negotiations, with the exception of Independent Serb Democratic Party, representing ethnic Serb minority in Croatia, being booted from government.
While departure of 3 MPs from DP reduces Plenković's majority to 76 out of 151, those 3 are expected to be compensated by those very same ethnic Serb MPs that had supported HDZ from 2015.