"It is ridiculous that a country of 4.5 million people has only one centre of power, because it should have at least 15," Cehok said at a press conference in the southern coastal city of Split, which was organised by the coalition of the HSLS, the Action of Social Democrats (ASH) and the Democratic Party of Pensioners (DSU) ahead of local elections this Sunday.
Cehok said that "absolutely nothing" had changed in the local government system over the last 15 years. "Croatia is still a highly centralised state in which less than 10 per cent of the money that pours into Zagreb goes back where it came from. The present state structure is absurd."
"Regardless of who is in power, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) or the Social Democratic Party (SDP), no one has shown the will for decentralisation. The Local Government Act has been amended three times, but only cosmetically," the HSLS leader said.
"Discouraged towns and counties do not use the powers they have for the good of the public because they do not have financial support," he added.
Cehok said that one of the goals of his party and its coalition partners was to strengthen local government.