Davor Bernardić new president of Croatian SDP

Davor Bernardić convincingly defeated Ranko Ostojić and became the third president of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. This only confirmed what was already clear last Saturday when he won more than 45 percent of the votes, while Ostojić had half as many. The difference was too great, and party members were poorly interested in electing a new leader, reports Patria.

Completely understandably, they had a choice between two men, neither of whom offered them any hope of returning to power. Everything came down to who would occupy the largest office in the SDP headquarters, the one where Zoran Milanović, the former president who handed over the party to his successor last night, sat for nine years.

With the election of Davor Bernardić, SDP members can prepare for a long opposition future. The new president has led the largest party organization, the one in Zagreb, for years, and during all those years, he failed to establish himself as a politically recognizable and acceptable figure to voters.

His rating, according to polls on preferences for the mayor of Zagreb, is below ten percent, and since he has led the Zagreb SDP, he has managed to rack up defeats at all levels. Except within the party itself, writes Index.