Now that the HDZ has finally given up and decided to support Dragan Primorc in his candidacy for the President of the Republic of Croatia, which was literally the reason for his expulsion from that party at one time, it is clear that we will have a passionate campaign and showdown between two bluffers. The first bluffer of the country, and even of the region, is certainly Zoran Milanović, the current president of the country, while Primorac would come second here, not lagging behind the current president in his posturing.
It is not at all in dispute that the yet-to-be-announced candidate from the Mozemo party, and it is reasonably assumed that it could be Ivana Kekin, will take a solid number of votes from Milanović in the first round. Just as it is not disputed, nor should it be written off in advance, that Marija Selak Raspudić, as an independent candidate from the right, will take a solid number of votes for both Primorac and Milanović. But, regardless of the fact that the two of them will be strong candidates, we can still expect a final showdown in the second round between the two leading bluffers of Croatian politics. Primarily because of Milanović's real popularity on the one hand, but also because of HDZ's infrastructural support for Primorac on the other. The entire region already knows everything about Milanović and his ideological slaloms, all the problematic statements and inconsistencies, and even the total replacement of the audience he is addressing. Just as she was informed about his constant relativization of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and essentially anti-European behavior.
On the other hand, Dragan Primorac is an internationally recognized scientist, but he is also a rare figure of the Croatian public and politics. He is one of those people who can convince you of anything with a sincere sparkle in his eyes and passionate speech. Especially the more gullible ones. And his talent for self-promotion is unlimited. However, such people, the more they stay under the spotlight and the scrutiny of the wider public, they become more and more caricatured in her perception. What has already happened to Dragan Primorac.
He went through a complete arc from the perspective of Sanader's Minister of Science and Education, who was fortunate enough to be the minister in the years of plenty, when new campuses were opened all over the country, regional universities in Split, Rijeka and Osijek expanded, and jobs in science and universities, by getting into problems, leaving office and trying to stay in politics as an independent presidential candidate. The funniest picture from that era remains, in which he confusedly joins the students in front of the ministry and chants "resignation, resignation" to himself together with them. Which would be a fantastic conceptual act if he was doing it consciously. This way he just came off as surreally ridiculous.
After that, he continued to build his career in science, establishing close relations with Israel and its scientists and being present in the Croatian public only through forensics and organizing visits by foreign scientists, mostly American and Israeli. Because of this, with his eventual victory, Croatia would get a pro-Israeli president instead of a pro-Russian president.
However, Dragan Primorc's greatest strength is his incredible self-confidence. And here he is identical to Milanović. You simply cannot defeat him permanently, because no matter how many times he loses or is faced with the indefensible, he will come back as if nothing happened and continue to do his thing.
These days, Primorka was stripped of his membership in the Association of Communists of Croatia and his candidacy for membership in the committee from 1990, and he completely casually said something like that everyone who was worth it was in the party and that they didn't ask him where he was in 91 , then continued in his own way.
It is definitely true that any televised confrontation between these two would turn into a surreal show. However, the problem is that one of them must win and become the old or new president. And then you have to survive the next four years. Both in Croatia and in the region.
Bonus video:
