POLITICS & CRIME Why Plenković's attack on the crown yesterday is the most autocratic outburst since Karamarko Plenković accused the opposition of undermining the defense against the coronavirus, legally, economically and politically Jasmin Klarić 06/26/2020 264 RECOMMENDATIONS 4 COMMENTS Tudjman's fine custom of the 1990s, to accuse the opposition of betraying national interests, was somewhat lost in the decade that followed, only to be returned to the mainstream by Tomislav Karamarko, along with the Communists and Yugoslavia. And now it has been taken over by Andrej Plenković One thing was quite certain in the HDZ campaigns of the 1990s - the autocratic Franjo Tudjman regime would accuse the opposition, mostly in a rather direct way, almost of betraying national interests. This beautiful custom was somewhat lost in the decade that followed, only to be returned to the mainstream by Tomislav Karamarko , together with the Communists and Yugoslavia . His political carom seemed that at least the story of traitors to national interests had become part of the archives of some uglier times. Andrej Plenković , however, overcame that part of the hope for at least a minor improvement in social communication. Today in Koprivnica, Andrej Plenković clearly and widely accused the opposition of constantly trying to destroy the defense against the coronavirus - legally, economically and politically. This is the culmination, at least so far, because there are more than seven days left until the election silence, attempts to show themselves as the savior of the nation, and all the others to charlatans and fog sellers, which is a legitimate tactic in politics. At least occasionally caricatured black and white. However, directly calling out political opponents to destroy the defense against the virus in the middle of a pandemic is nothing more than writing an indictment for high treason. A CAMPAIGN THAT GOES DOWNSTREAM It is not difficult to conclude why Plenković reaches for this desperate tool in another in a series of HDZ campaigns in the last fifteen months that goes downstream. Parts of the poll by constituency that are being published these days indicate that his party will not win a relative majority. Namely, HDZ lags behind in three constituencies that include parts of Zagreb (Second, Sixth and Seventh) and in which the final winner of the election is usually hardened, because relations are equal (in all other constituencies the left or right have a clear advantage). There are two things that are even worse for the HDZ than these figures that the Restart coalition predicts probably several terms of advantage on July 5th. First, the HR Rating rating was conducted between June 14 and 22, before the coronavirus explosion that made the HDZ's "Safe Croatia" campaign a bad joke and before Plenković's stubborn refusal and the very thought of going into self-isolation. VUČIĆ'S GALLERY OF AUTOCRATS Second, the trend. In the polls, trends are more important than the absolute numbers themselves, as they indicate the direction in which support could move until election day itself. The HDZ stands like this, the same agency, Promocija plus, which worked on HReiting, conducted its regular research in May. In that poll, Croatia is one constituency, and at the beginning of May, 30.2 percent of voters would vote for HDZ and 27.8 percent for SDP. Promotion Plus did the same research in early June. HDZ was already in decline, the Restart coalition jumped to the top, but with a miniature advantage: 27.2: 26.6 percent. With so much difference, the advantage in mandates would be either none or minimal. However, the HR rating published so far shows that it will certainly be higher than one or two terms. And the poll was conducted before the new corona chaos in which the country sank, with the prime minister persistently trampling on his own pre-election slogan - that there are no untouchables. In these circumstances, it is increasingly likely that, even if the HDZ somehow manages to gather a majority in Parliament with Skor and who knows who else, these are the last days of Andrej Plenković as Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia. The nervousness and stubbornness that radiates from it can therefore, humanly, be understood. Reaching for the accusation of national treason, however, is a step that fixes Plenković in the Vučić Gallery of Eastern European Autocrats and for which no mitigating circumstances apply.