Members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) youth forum in Istria seem not willing to support Damir Kajin as a candidate for Istria County Prefect at the local elections this spring, local web portals reported on Saturday evening. At its latest meeting the SDP youth forum unanimously decided not to support Kajin's candidacy despite the fact that a few days ago the SDP expressed its backing to Kajin who used to be a long-standing Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) parliamentarian and who was expelled from the IDS following his harshly-worded criticism of the IDS leadership and his announcement that he would run for the Istria County head as an independent candidate.
According to the web portals, SDP youth activists are in favour of backing a candidate that comes from the SDP ranks.
The forum members also bear a grudge against the SDP presidency for failing to ask SDP members in Istria about their opinion on Kajin's candidacy as an independent nominee for the prefect in the Croatian biggest peninsula prior to giving its support to Kajin.
The portals say that the SDP youth forum in Istria is likely to issue a statement on the matter.
At a joint press conference in Pula on 3 January, Kajin and Ada Damjanac of the SDP Istrian branch, who became recently the SDP commissioner for the its Istria SDP branch after the party's leadership dissolved that branch and the SDP city branch in Pula, and the head of the Istrian branch of the Croatian Pensioners' Party (HSU), Radovan Cvek, announced that they would work together to initiate changes in Istria County.
"The SDP in Istria wants to be a driver of change in how the county is led and that's why we have decided to support Mr Kajin as a candidate for Istria County Prefect," Damjanac told that news conference.
Cvek also confirmed his party's support although it had not yet made a formal decision.
Kajin described this joint initiative as a fresh start. "Talks are open, we're not forcing anyone, everyone has the right to choose, and those who are not with us we can do without. I'm certain we will win," Kajin said.
"Istria won't be like Calabria or Sicily, it won't be run Mafia-style," Kajin said. "We should put an end to separatist wars with the government which citizens of Istria voted for. The government did not turn its back on Istria and it is with this government that Istria will resolve all problems that Jakovcic could not do with the HDZ prime ministers with whom he curried favour."
Kajin has parted ways with the incumbent head of Istria County and IDS leader, Ivan Jakovcic, accusing him of autocratic rule.
On 29 December, it was reported that leaders of city and municipal branches of the SDP in Istria County decided that the SDP would form a coalition with the HNS (Croatian People's Party) and the HSU in next spring's local elections in Istria and that their lists would not include the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), although at the last parliamentary elections in December 2011, those four parties made up a coalition with the Agenda 21 programme that won the polls. The SDP also then reported that it had opted for the support to Kajin.
These decision were made in Pazin at the gathering of chiefs of the SDP branches from Istrian towns and municipalities, which was presided by Damjanac, who was recently appointed by the SDP presidency as the party's commissioner in Istria after the SDP presidency had dissolved the party branches in Istria County and in the City of Pula, citing their inertness. Damjanac told reporters that the decision to make this coalition in Istria without the IDS was expected after the latest conflicts between the IDS leader Ivan Jakovcic and the SDP Presidency.
Some dissatisfied SDP members walked out of the Pazin meeting, as they were against Kajin's candidacy for the next prefect, insisting that the SDP nominee should be elected during SDP intra-party election conventions.
The move by the SDP presidency to dissolve the SDP branches in Pula and Istria County after the local branches decided to run together with the IDS at the forthcoming local elections stirred a strong criticism from Jakovcic who said in early November that it was not only the internal matter of the SDP in light of the fact that "the dismissed (SDP) officials hold senior positions in Istria County and the city" but that it was also becoming a "top political issue involving attempts to politically destabilise Istria". This move was was interpreted by the Istria County Prefect and IDS president as the announcement of a new policy of the SDP towards Istria, and Jakovcic accused SDP leaders in Zagreb of showing that a stable and steady Istria did not suit the ruling party in Croatia any more.
On 3 January, when the IDS leadership decided to expel Kajin from the party membership, Jakovcic told a news conference that it was unfair that a political party, alluding to SDP of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, should "steal a person who until today served as vice-president of another party."
"This says enough of the morality of those people. I don't want to make any further comment. I am fully devoted to the campaign that will follow. After all, I will run in European elections, and as for relations within the coalition, Mr Milanovic will have to give it some serious thought," Jakovcic said.
Jakovcic said then that the IDS was not considering leaving the ruling coalition because an IDS member, Tourism Minister Veljko Ostojic, was rated the best minister in public opinion polls.
"We are a responsible party and we will honour our commitments to the coalition partners in full. I will most likely not attend meetings of the coalition partners anymore," Jakovcic added.
The Istria County branch of the HNS has not yet decided which candidate for County Prefect it will support in local elections. It decided at a meeting this past Wednesday evening that it would negotiate both with Kajin and with the IDS. "We don't want pressure from anyone, but we want serious talks with all political parties," the head of the HNS Istrian branch, Veljko Ivancic, said this past Thursday.
