After an attempt to create a pre-election coalition between HDZ, HSLS, DC, and HSP as well as the creation of the Croatian state-building block HB, HIP, HSP, HCSP, and HKDU, the agreement came to an ignominious end; it appears to be impossible to arrange serious cooperation between the right wing of the Croatian political scene. During the past several days, Nacional has discovered the occurrence of an unexpected twist: the Presidents of HSP and HIP, Anto Djapić and Miroslav Tudjman have reached an agreement on a mutual election appearance in record timing. With that, Anto Djapić succeeded in realizing the dreams of Ivić Pašalić, President of HB, and Miroslav Tudjman, President of HIP: he asserted himself as the one and only true leader of the Croatian right wing. To succeed in doing this, he first had to rule out ridiculous right wingers, such as the President of HKDU, Anto Kovačević, and the President of HCSP, Luka Podrug, and finally Pašalić was thrown out of the running. Djapic later placed Miroslav Tudjman under his political protection.

HSP claims that the conclusion of the coalition agreement between Djapić and Tudjman is the final process in the political definition and rearrangement on the right wing: HSP grew to become the second strongest party after HDZ. HSLS and DC marginalized themselves because they cannot find coalition partners and it is completely unclear as to whether or not they will enter the elections. The deep division between the liberals is once again tearing apart HSLS: party right-wingers patronize the coalition with HDZ, and more moderate members warn that it is absurd that in one election period, together with SDP, they were able to overthrow HDZ’s power, and after four years, enter a coalition with HDZ to beat SDP in the elections. Apart from that, there are also claims that Ivo Sanader manipulated and used Dražen Budiša in order to lure him into negotiating and offering unacceptable conditions for cooperation. Then, he proposed cooperation with DC. Mate Granić, in the meantime, accepted a coalition only in a 50:50 split, which members of HSLS held as unacceptable. There exists a third group that believes that HSLS should go to the elections as an independent party. They believe, in fact, that cooperation with Ivo Sanader is impossible because of the arrogance of HDZ, Zlatko Tomčić and HSS are as equally unacceptable as Ivica Račan and SDP, and the coalition with HSP does not come into consideration because of the difference in political ideology. Those that believe this to be true recommend that HSLS enters the elections as an independent party; they believe that HSLS will do better independently than in a coalition with parties that only want to abuse the remaining party reputation. Ivo Sanader decided that his tactic would be to wait: the conditions for a coalition that are currently being offered by HSLS, HSP and DC are absolutely unacceptable for HDZ. He has chosen to wait until September when a serious public opinion poll will be conducted and when HSLS, HSP and DC will be convinced of the uncertainty around their entrance into the election rounds. It is predicted in HDZ that these parties will sit at the negotiating round with more realistic requests and only then will Sanader be ready to negotiate, of course under conditions that he will dictate.

Anto Djapić and HSP are no longer interested in this kind of calculation. HSP has announced the near emergence of their spectacular step forward: their entrance into the future controlling coalition. In HSP, it has been estimated that after fourteen years spent as an opposition party, with 400 branches and 14,000 active members, this is the final opportunity for that party to be included in power. Remaining in opposition, they believe, will be fatal for the future of the party. Members of HSP believe that they will be able to gain at least ten seats in Parliament together with HIP, and the members of Parliament will be Anto Djapić, Tonči Tadić, Miroslav Rožić, Vlado Jukić, Miroslav Tudjman, Nenad Ivanković, Admiral Domazet, Ljilja Vokić, and Dunja Zloić Gotovina. This means that without these individuals it will be impossible to form the Government. HSP has announced that Djapić, as well as Zlatko Tomčić will not be burdened with ideological judgments: they will cooperate with parties that have the most to offer. Members of HSP expect that SDP will offer twice as much as HDZ in order to stay in power. Unlike Sanader, Budiša and Pašalić, who have all sworn that they will not cooperate with SDP, HSP has not thrown out the possibility of working together with the social democrats. Furthermore, they are interested in cooperating, confirmed by the discussions between Anto Djapić and Ivica Račan and the negotiations with the Vice President of SDP, Mate Arlović. Members of HSP predict that the results of the upcoming elections will most likely be such that there will need to be the creation of a red-black coalition, for example, between SDP, HSS and HSP. In that case, there is no reason why Anto Djapić would not enter into Ivica Račan’s Government. Members of HSP also believe that the President of SDP: proved his concern for defenders and the dignity of the Patriotic War in the way he treated the case of Mirko Norac, that he is capable of protecting war heroes from the War Tribunal in the Hague, and his appearance at the funeral for General Janko Bobetko proved that as a politician, he appreciates the value of the Patriotic War and the value of a modern state. As a model for future cooperation, he mentioned Zagreb where, in HSP’s opinion, Milan Bandić and Zdravko Tomac are running a completely acceptable system of politics.

The confidence and ambition of HSP members contributed the most rush for their party. For cooperation with SDP, HDZ and SDP, DC and HSLS, as well as HIP, HB, HKDU, and HCSP are all equally interested. These parties are all convinced that HSP can get between four and six percent of the total votes, while at the same time, due to the latest rhetoric and behavior of the leaders of the party, the party will not been seen as anti-European and anti-democratic. The numerous meetings between Djapić and Ivo Sanader, Ivica Račan, Dražen Budiša, Mate Granić, Ivić Pašalić, and Miroslav Tudjman prove the acceptability of HSP.

Even though he accepted the initiative proposed by Ivić Pašalić at the negotiations for the creation of a right wing coalition, Djapić proved that this was only a tactical move. He disapproved of each of Pašalić’s propositions for mutual cooperative appearances with HSP and HB, even when Pašalić was prepared to accept the humiliating position where HSP would have the lead in power in seven or eight elective units. With that, he ended the negotiations with Pašalić, and Djapić went on to begin talks with Miroslav Tudjman and HIP where he achieved extremely favorable conditions, 75:25 percent. Three factors convinced Djapić to create an agreement with Tudjman. The first reason was that the surname Tudjman would help him steal a part of HDZ and HB’s voters. The second reason is that Miroslav Tudjman would fight for entrance into the Parliament in Zagreb where HSP is not in the best standings, and the third (least important) reason is that this agreement fatally divided HB and HIP. Cooperation with Pašalić and HB were equally protested in HSP and HIP. The Vice Presidents of HIP, Nenad Ivanković and Admiral Davorin Domazet Loso, as well as many leaders in their party, feel that Ivić Pašalić is a spent worn out politician that will discredit anyone that enters into a coalition with him. Djapić agrees with this statement due to one, personal reason why he would want to throw out Pašalić: he stood in Djapić’s way when he wanted to take leadership over the right wing. By concluding an agreement with Miroslav Tudjman, Djapić forced Pašalić to cooperate with the minor, extreme right wing parties, HKDU and HCSP. The question, however, is whether or not Luka Podrug and HCSP will agree to cooperate with Pašalić. He is requesting that he become the bearer of one of the lists in Dalmatia, where Podrug believes he has a chance to enter into Parliament.

Members of HSP are also convinced that a coalition with Miroslav Tudjman resulted in a hard blow to Ivo Sanader: HSP put the name Tudjman under their wing which is the trademark of HDZ, and they showed that they cannot be overrun by force and power; they can only be dealt with as equal partners.

In talks with foreign diplomatic representatives, Djapić introduced himself as the President of a modern, pro-European conservative right wing party; not like Haider in Austria, but more like the CSU in Germany. Djapić, however, wishes to avoid the fate of the extreme Corinthian right wingers who were first rejected by international community, and finally rejected by the national voters. Because of this, during the past year, Djapić has not mentioned Ante Pavelić and the Ustasha movement, he did not join protest actions of volunteer organizations, he avoided the topic of the Hague Tribunal, he does not mention BiH, he does not get caught up in various actions that were carried out by retired Generals and he does not deal with ideological questions… Instead of these issues, HSP is dealing with questions necessary for the development and functioning of a legal state and they are proposing laws on environmental protection, transfer of power, the islands, the conflict of interest between Government officials, and they are against the pollution of the Adriatic and the use of genetically modified food…

The question, however, is how the members and voting body for HSP, the national public, and the representatives of international organizations will measure and accept the announced changes. This type of Copernican revolution for HSP, currently only now in the minds of top party members, favors only a pathological desire for control and power. Here, people in power lose all consideration and they do not choose their means and methods, or the partners that power wins over and maintains. With this, even the most unbelievable coalition, like SDP and HSP, are no longer completely left out. It was, however, much easier to create a revolution in the minds of HSP leaders, which is a prerequisite for their place on the political scene, as well as the base of the party which is mainly enlisted of lines that even today promote Ustasha ideologies; they have no idea about ecology and genetically modified food. It is difficult to foresee how they will accept the idea of cooperation with SDP and how they will react if HSP supports the decision to hand over suspects to the International Tribunal in the Hague. The fact that Djapić concluded a coalition agreement with Miroslav Tudjman, or that he plans to recommend Dunja Zloić Gotovina as the bearer of the list in Dalmatia, proves what a long and toilsome journey it will be for the transformation of HSP. A positive fact is that the party that appeared on the political scene in the early ninety’s in black shirts, with Ustasha symbols and raised right fists, is beginning to maturely convince themselves of the importance of promoting pro-European and democratic ideas.