Croatian President Reveals Intention to Seek Second Term

After a dozen other politicians either directly or indirectly confirmed their candidacy in the next presidential election in Croatia, which is due at the end of the year, current President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has revealed her own intention to run in an interview with a right-wing paper.

Predsjednica @KolindaGK u interjvuu za Hrvatski tjednik objavila kandidaturu za drugi mandat. pic.twitter.com/FcF92gBQaR

— Media Servis (@mediaservishr) August 9, 2019

In the interview, published on Friday in Hrvatski tjednik, the conservative President says she will run for a second term as she "can't turn her back on Croatia".

On Monday, attending official ceremonies in Knin marking the anniversary of Operation Storm, the 1995 operation that crushed a Serbian rebellion, she hinted that she would run again, saying: "I am here in my capacity as the President of the republic; we will see each other in the next five years."

Her decision to clarify her political intentions in this particular right-wing weekly came a surprise to many.

Only a year ago, the same weekly called her "shameless" for supporting what it called Serbian and Israeli lies about World War II and the role of the then Fascist-run Croatian state in it.

Having dedicated the whole cover to her, it said that she "plays the patriot, and then in Jasenovac demonizes her people and the state … praising Rivlin's and Serbia's lies".

The weekly wrote this accusation after Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Grabar-Kitarovic in July last year visited the site of the World War II concentration camp at Jasenovac, run by the Fascist Ustasa movement.

During the visit, Rivlin had urged Croatia to "deal with its past" and Grabar-Kitarovic had...