"A vote for me is a vote for my friend and comrade-in-arms, the man who is currently the only one standing in defence of the homeland, General Ante Gotovina," Cesic said after he presented his candidacy with 24,208 signatures in his support.
Calling on citizens to vote for him, Cesic, who was ousted from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in November 2003 after the party decided that he was causing damage to its reputation, said that citizens' confidence in him was an order which he would follow as a soldier.
Cesic was an HDZ deputy in the previous national parliament. After he was ousted from the HDZ, he ran in the last parliamentary elections as a candidate on an independent list for the constituency covering Croats living outside Croatia, but he was not elected into the parliament.