The fever of piecing together the election lists and pre-election coalitions has swept over Croatia’s political scene. The newest round of negotiations between Dražen Budiša and Mate Granić on Monday, 15 September ended unsuccessfully and it is now completely clear that there will be no coalition agreement between those two parties. In SDP there was a quiet revolt after members found out that the vice president of the party, Mate Crkvenac, is recruiting experts to be on SDP’s election list. After Budiša announced who would lead HSLS’s list, all those that felt deprived protested; in Budiša’s case, unfortunately, the numbers are not few.

After it was confirmed that the president of the party Ivo Banac was not able to find coalition partners, a branch of the Liberal party,is looking for help to find coalition partners at the local level. Ivo Banac wants nothing to do with this. He is persistent in his demand that the branch cannot assemble separate coalition agreements. IDP and SDP cannot agree on who will carry their mutual list in Rijeka or who will get the ninth place on the list which is expected to bring a representative position in Parliament.

In other parties things appear to be relatively calm, not because they are problem-free but because they have not even seriously started talking about the lists.

The week long traumatic negotiations between HSLS and DC have failed because of a simple reason: whenever Budiša and Mate Granić solve one problem, their colleagues find two new debatable questions. And that leads into infinity. Positions for the entrance into Parliament on the election lists are so few that there is not space for all deserving members of each individual party, let alone that on one list you can find all interested persons from two parties. Among other things is HSLS, a revolt occurred after Budiša announced the carrier of the party list and there was no mention of members from DC.

That is how Budiša and Granić realized why other parties have not yet began the adventure of creating a coalition list: it is such a difficult and dubious task that only big losers and naive individuals do it. Budiša and Granić are convinced that HSLS and DC do not fit that description.

It is getting tense in parties that are not even burdened with coalition negotiations as well. SDP is the most tense. The public falsely interpreted the conflict that occurred at the seating of the presidency of SDP on Monday, 7 September. Some media published that the president of SDP, Račan, became angry at the vice president of the party, Crkvenac, because apparently without his knowledge, Crkvenac spoke with numerous distinguished public persons while trying to get their acceptance for being on the social democrat election list. Račan was really angry, not because Crkvenac negotiated; he was angry because the secret was uncovered. Račan, with a valid guess, believes that some of the leading members of the party made sure that the information would be leaked to the public so that the whole operation would be undermined. It is well known that most of the leaders in SDP were crushed after Račan’s suggestion that 30% of non-party members be found on SDP’s election lists. That was immediately seen by members as distrust towards party leaders but no one dared to say that directly. There exists a justified anxiety because of that decision with the list; respected SDP activists might get dropped and they do not deserve that. It is clear that someone who is not a member of SDP will accept the offer to be on the list and will not be satisfied with a decorative role but they expect a position that gives a realistic chance at entering Parliament. That means a less attractive position for SDP party activists.

In the media it was mentioned that Crkvenac spoke with economists, Žarko Primorac and Dražen Kalogjera, manager Goran Radman and Darko Marinac, and expert for financial law, Neven Crikveni. Only Crikveni admitted that he spoke with Crkvenac. Furthermore, at the last seating of the Development Council, Kalogjera, Mladen Vedriš, Stjepan Zdunić, and Gorazd Nikić fiercely criticized the economic politics of the government and Kolgjera reminded those present that at the same place five years ago HDZ was accused of the same economic politics. The only thing that was different now, Kalogjera pointed out, was that the situation now was much worse. Kalogjera’s declaration forced a strong reaction from Crkvenac who claimed that the situation then and today cannot be compared at all. After that declaration, it is hard to see how Kalogjera could possibly end up on SDP’s list. Radman, the direct of Microsoft for the entire region, who decided to get politically activated in 2000 when he tried to help the new government was also quickly disappointed and pulled out. The real truth is that there are not many independent intellectuals and experts that are interested in being placed on the party list seeing that the auction with their names is only a pre-election trick.

While in SDP no one knows who will be on the list and in which place, the president of the party, Račan, uncovered in one private discussion that he has cleared up that conflict and that it is completely clear to him how the SDP election list will look and who needs to be on the top position. His self-confidence is shared by the second place position for Zagreb’s SDP list held by Milan Bandić. After he found out that Zdravko Tomac would lead the list of Forum Hrvatski Sloga (FHS) in Zagreb, Bandić answered the warning that he could take away a portion of SDP’s votes by stating: “No he won’t, Tomac will take away votes from Sanader and Pašalić.”

Everything that has happened in the political scene has confirmed that it is not strange that the four strongest political parties in Croatia: HDZ, SDP, HNS and HSS do not want to participate in any discussions on pre-election coalitions. That is how they have avoided the traumatic negotiations and difficult internal conflicts that are shaking all parties that are attempting to find pre-election coalition partners.

Because of all this, and because of strategic political reasons, HDZ, SDP, HNS, and HSS have decided to have independent election campaigns. HDZ, SDP, and HSS have very similar reasons for that: the pre-election coalitions did not want to create obstacles for various possibilities that could arise after they find out the results of the parliamentary elections. By refusing to enter a coalition with HSLS, DC, and HSP, HDZ wanted to leave the door open for post-election cooperation with other parties, firstly with HSS. Even Tomčić did not want to create a coalition agreement with the current coalition partners. After the elections, he wants to have open hands for cooperation with SDP, and with HDZ. Examples and agreements on cooperation between HDZ and HSS resulted because of that. For the past several days there have not been any mutual attacks, which is the best sign that leaders of both parties realize how harmful it is to both parties; HSS would be forced into the arms of SDP, and HDZ would move towards HSLS, DC, and HSP. HDZ and HSS do not want this: they have decided to consider their partners only after they learn about the election results. The result might be, among other things that HDZ and HSS sit down at a table and discuss a mutual government. Račan also does not want to have his hands tied with a pre-election coalition between Libra and the Liberal party. He wants to have to door wide open for cooperation with HSS, and he sees this as his main strategic task. Račan wants to use all means possible to stop a coalition between HDZ and HSS because the head of SDP estimates that their cooperation, in the current situation, could be the worst answer for Croatia.