USAID/OTI Croatia Field Report
January 2000
Country
Situation
The parliamentary elections held on January 3, 2000 will be
considered a milestone in Croatia's history. The 78 percent
voter turnout was the highest since the 1990 elections for
independence. By all accounts the election was run in an orderly and
professional manner with no attempts to change or influence the
results. The outcome was a huge defeat for the HDZ ruling party. The
opposition coalition won in all but one district and with the
Diaspora, but ended up a few seats shy of the majority needed to
make constitutional changes. The HDZ has completely collapsed with
recriminations throughout the party because of the overwhelming
defeat. This had a carryover effect on the presidential election
with the early favorite, Mate Granic (HDZ) coming in a distant third
behind the coalition candidate, Drazan Budisa, and the surprise
front runner Stipe Mesic. The strong showing of Mr. Mesic, who came
from nowhere in a few short weeks, is yet another demonstration of
the newfound power of the Croatian electorate. At this point, the
runoff between Mr. Mesic and Mr. Budisa is too close to call.
Croatia, however, is in the enviable position that either candidate
will be competent and progressive.
The new parliament has already earned some favorable reviews
after one week in office. The mood of optimism and change has been
kept alive by the refusal of most senior officials' to accept
government vehicles, proposed salary cuts for members of parliament
and the incarceration of the notorious tycoon, Miroslav Kutle and
several former Ministers for misappropriation of funds. In another
incident, one of the last acts of Vlatko Pavletic (interim
president) was to accept the resignation of General Ljubo Cesic
Rojs, who was rumored to be behind the smear campaign against Stipe
Mesic during the first round of the presidential campaign. Mr.
Pavletic may emerge as a quiet hero for his leadership during the
time between President Tudjman's death and the start of the
new government.
Another important trend is the reduced role of the minority slate
of candidates. The Serb party was allocated only one seat (out of
151 seats) compared to three seats (out of 120) in the last
parliamentary election, and as a result, the overwhelming majority
(70-90 percent) of the Serb population chose to vote on the main
ticket.
One final note on old habits dying hard -- it took almost two
weeks after the parliamentary elections for the news media to
realize that the HDZ and its members were no longer the top news
story.
OTI HIGHLIGHTS
A. Narrative Summary
OTI is limiting new project funding as it starts its program
close-out. A few new grants will be signed in early February for
projects that were ready in December, but delayed due to the demand
of the pre-election campaign. The main focus is the transfer of OTI
staff and grant making mechanisms to the USAID mission in Croatia.
B.
Grants Activity Summary
More than 236 grants, valued in excess of
$3,614,402 to over 89 civic-based organizations.
Media Development PTGs: 80 (Total Est. Value: $ 1,516,731)
Civic Org. Development PTGs: 156 (Total Est. Value: $ 2,097,671)
New PTGs signed this period: 2 (Total Est. cost: $ 71,269)
Media-0 ($0); Civil- 2 ($71,269)
C. Coordination
Support to the GONG election monitoring campaign continues as a
coordinated effort between several donors including OTI, Freedom
House, NED and the Open Society Institute. The coordination is
directed by the GONG staff at their national headquarters rather
than by the donors themselves.
D. Other Key Concerns
OTI chose to minimize support for any Get Out the Vote (GOTV)
activities during the presidential campaign for a variety of
reasons, including lack of perceived need and a strong concern that
it would be extremely difficult for the coalition, GLAS 99, to
remain non-partisan.
Other donors did not share this opinion with the result that GLAS
formed a new coalition, GLAS 2000, that undertook a partisan
campaign against the HDZ candidate, Mate Granic. This was
highlighted in the OSCE report on the first round of presidential
elections. GLAS 2000 has kept a lower profile for the second round
of presidential elections and is working to repair the damage
created by the partisan nature of the previous campaign.
PROGRESS TOWARD
OBJECTIVES
The targets stated in the previous report (GONG fielding between
4,000 and 5,000 monitors and the GOTV campaign contributing to a
minimum 70% voter turnout) were met and the results have exceeded
expectations. USAID/OTI is working to make sure that gains made,
especially the increased visibility of civil society as an important
participant in the democratic process, are not lost. The incredible
success of GONG has changed the NGO landscape almost overnight. NGOs
are no longer perceived as subversive enemies of the state, and
volunteering is not seen as a throwback to the communist collective.
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