Only about 18 months ago I wrote that lustration in Croatia starts in Australia. Yesterday’s General Elections for Croatian Parliament results have proved that is the case.

Knowing in advance that candidates running for Croatian Parliament from the diaspora have no chance of getting in due to discrimination built into the Electoral law I am pleased to say that an overwhelming victory by our Independent list Zeljko Glasnovic in every polling booth in Australia where I live was achieved, with the highest percentage of votes being in Sydney (states of NSW and Queensland) 77% and Melbourne (States of Victoria and South Australia) 63% Canberra 51%…

The sadly realistic point about running as a candidate at elections for the Croatian Parliament from the Croatian diaspora has never been about possibility of winning because winning, due to brutal discrimination within the Electoral legislation, which makes winning a parliamentary seat an impossible outcome! The point about running as a candidate at elections for the Croatian Parliament from the Croatian diaspora is about fighting for justice and fighting against discrimination and collecting evidence of that abominable discrimination against people (the Diaspora) who were crucial in the fight for independence from communist Yugoslavia. Croatian HDZ and SDP governments since year 2000 have ensured that they place the Croatian diaspora within the same Electorate (XI) as Bosnia and Herzegovina and that they reduce the number of seats from 12 to 3! Furthermore, more than 90% of Croatian eligible voters in the diaspora physically cannot reach a polling booth due to distance and prohibitive personal costs for travel to the booth. Bosnia and Herzegovina has thousands upon thousands more voters who are able to access polling places on election day than the Diaspora. In the Diaspora in 2010 the Croatian government has done away with accessible voting booths that used to exist within Croatian clubs etc in the diaspora and limited the polling booths to Croatian Consulates and Embassies!

Talk about passive aggression against own people! This is a painful example!

This is purposeful discrimination against citizens by a government and it cannot be ignored nor unattended. This is a purposeful action of former communists and their followers who want corruption, nepotism and citizen-unfriendly laws to continue, to thrive just as they did in former communist Yugoslavia. I have felt it on my own back as a candidate from Australia but Australian Croats have done me proud, have done retired General Zeljko Glasnovic proud. Overwhelming majority of voters in Australia – true fighters for democracy and freedom and lasting well-being of all Croats. Even if official Croatia has failed miserably at lustration, the General Elections’ results in Australia (and I am quite confident it will be the same for rest of the Croatian diaspora, e.g. USA, Canada, South America…) overwhelmingly demonstrate that they themselves have managed to implement lustration in their local communities. They have managed to decimate HDZ/Croatian Democratic Union and SDP/Social Democratic Party to smithereens!

This should be a glorious wake-up call for democracy-loving Croatians of today whose voices have been silenced by discrimination and lies!

My personal gratitude to all Croatians in Australia who have been able to reach a polling booth and who voted, in droves, voted for the Independent list Zeljko Glasnovic on which list I myself stood as a candidate! The fight for truth and justice continues! Ina Vukic