During the same year, Jović was sacked from his political advisory position by president Ivo Josipović after he claimed in his article that 1991 Croatian independence referendum was "very non-liberal. Maybe they were 'democratic' if by 'democracy' we mean only the determination of those who have more and who less [votes]. But they were certainly not liberal" and that it can not be compared with Scottish independence referendum arguing that, unlike the Croatian one, every opinion was considered legitimate and was equally present in public debate. This statement was described by president Josipović as "harmful and wrong" who expressed his opinion on incomparability of situation in Croatia (Yugoslav crisis) and Scotland (established democracy) at the time of two referendums. President sacked Jović quoting differences of opinion shortly before the 2014–15 Croatian presidential election, while politicians from major opposition right-wing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) expressed opinion that he was sacked because his opinions were damaging Josipović's re-election prospects. The left-leaning British political website OpenDemocracy opined that sacking of Jović was the result of "(re)establishment of a certain dogmatism in interpreting or discussing about the past". "Balkan Insight" described Jović's statements as "highly controversial", and cited denunciations by some politicians from both Social Democratic Party (SDP) and HDZ, while "24sata" columnist Tomislav Klauški criticised Josipović's move instead and asked if it is possible to comment meaningfully and non-passionately the independence referendum 23 years after it took place.