Misko Maretic (born 1969) is a Kresimirian politician who has served as the leader of the nationalist Vjetrusa party since 2001. He is the longest-serving current party leader in the Republic and has represented District VIII (Zahodecelska) in the Assembly for over thirty years.
Elected at the age of 23, Maretic quickly established a reputation as a legislative firebrand. He is best known for authoring the 1993 Public Office Eligibility Act, which resulted in the expulsion of Kristrad Bronstein from the Senate. In recent decades, he has steered his party toward a rural, populist conservatism, seeking to counter the rise of Northern Power while balancing the competing interests of his party’s industrial financiers and working-class base.
Early Life and Activism
Maretic was born in 1969 in Bihac, a small industrial town in Zahodecelska. Coming of age during the stagnation of the late Sanjakorin era, he became involved in right-wing youth politics as a teenager.
He was a founding member of the Vjetrusa Youth Vanguard in District VIII. His early activism was characterized by aggressive confrontation with liberal groups. In 1988, at the age of 19, he was arrested by the Civil Order Force for property damage after leading a group that smashed the windows of a local Civic Renewal Front (CRF) campaign office. The charges were later dropped, but the incident earned him a reputation as a fearless street fighter for the nationalist cause.
Political Career
The “Young Wolf” of 1992
In the 1992 election, the CRF surged nationally under Mia Marija Pavlovic. However, in Zahodecelska, the CRF’s liberal economic message failed to resonate with the conservative rural population.
Maretic ran for the second Senate seat. Despite his youth (23), his fiery rhetoric against “Sinj liberals” mobilized the district’s youth and traditionalists. He won the seat with 36.1% of the vote, entering the Assembly alongside the veteran Kresimir Bukowski of Blue Dawn. He was the youngest Senator in the history of the modern Republic at the time of his swearing-in.
The 1993 Bronstein Ban
Maretic wasted no time making his mark. In early 1993, he proposed the Public Office Eligibility Act. The bill was explicitly designed to target the newly elected BLF Senator Kristrad Bronstein, who had served in the Boskenmark military.
Maretic delivered a series of blistering speeches in the Assembly, accusing Bronstein of being a “foreign bacteria in the bloodstream of the Republic.” The bill passed, leading to Bronstein’s arrest. This legislative victory solidified Maretic’s status as the rising star of the hard right.
Leadership of Vjetrusa (2001–Present)
Throughout the 1990s, Maretic served under party leader Bozidarka Borsa. While Borsa attempted to moderate the party, Maretic cultivated support among the hardliners. Following Borsa’s resignation in 2001 amidst internal strife, Maretic consolidated his power base and was elected leader.
As leader, especially between 2002 and 2022, Maretic had to manage a fractious coalition:
- The Corporate Wing: Led by former Senator Bran Maj, this faction provided the party’s funding but demands deregulation.
- The Populist Wing: Led by former Senator Viktor Durak until his electoral loss in 2022, this faction demanded protectionism and state support for workers. The Vjetrusa party base still however supports protectionism, and Maretic himself represents such a district.
Maretic generally sided with the Corporate wing on economic issues (allegedly protecting Maj Holdings from liability in the 1998 Cetingrad Steelworks Incident) while using Populist rhetoric on social issues to keep the base loyal.
Recent Years
Since the 2010s, Maretic has pivoted to Agrarian Populism. Facing a fierce challenge from Syv Iric and Northern Power in the northern districts, Maretic has campaigned heavily on preserving traditional rural life against the “encroachment” of environmental regulations.
In 2015, he whipped his party to vote for the Digital Vigilance Act, a move that split his caucus (Bran Maj voted against, Viktor Durak voted for). Maretic justified the vote as a necessary measure to combat terrorism, maintaining his “Law and Order” credentials.
This disagreement resulted in Bran Maj resigning from the party to sit in the Assembly as an independent, a move that has caused the Vjetrusa party to lose much of its funding. This led to the 2022 election, where only one Vjetrusa Senator was elected; Maretic successfully defended his seat in District VIII, proving the endurance of his personal brand in Zahodecelska.