At a news conference he held in the eastern city of Osijek on Saturday, Kramaric recalled that after last year's local elections in the city and in Osijek County electoral frauds occurred when "one councillor in the City Council and several councillors in County Assembly were bribed (to change sides)" and after that nothing happened.
Kramaric went on to say that the independent list led by Branimir Glavas and the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) managed to form a majority in the City Council when one of the two Croatian Pensioners' Party deputies joined them at the founding session.
Similarly, the coalition of the independent list led by Glavas and the HSP formed a majority at the founding session of the County Assembly when a deputy from the Peasant Party (HSS) and an HSLS deputy joined them.
This was not an exception, such cases happened throughout Croatia and this is a real problem when the political will of citizens rather than one party is changed, the HSLS official said.
Recent accusations by former members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) about electoral frauds at party conventions have grabbed media attention with allegations that Ivo Sanader took the helm of the party through murky dealings.
Close associates of Branimir Glavas, who is currently in custody on suspicion of war crimes, accuse Sanader of having resorted to illegal means to become the HDZ chief. Some of them claim that they were also involved in those unlawful activities.
Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, the HDZ spokesman and other officials resolutely denied those allegations.
Dismissing claims by a parliamentary deputy of the HDSSB party, Ivan Drmic, about double election fraud in the HDZ, the party spokesman Ratko Macek said last Thursday that "that is an absolute lie". He added that "more nonsense will be coming from that clique in the next few days, but the public will see for themselves who is lying." Macek went on to say that this was a cheap electoral trick and an attempt to sow dissent among HDZ ranks.
On Saturday, a former secretary of the HDZ for the Croatian Diaspora, Vinko Sabljo, held a news conference in Zagreb to inform the public about his knowledge about irregularities at the 7th HDZ election convention.
According to Sabljo, who is currently a member of the Croatian Bloc led by Ivic Pasalic, 48 delegates from the Diaspora who were perceived by Sanader's followers as not being in favour of Sanader, were denied the right to vote.