Croatian political analyst Jaroslav Pecnik said on Sunday evening that the first round of local elections showed the country’s left-wing bloc continues to struggle, despite President Zoran Milanović’s national victory in previous elections.
“It appears that only Milanović has gained momentum, not the left as a whole,” Pecnik told broadcaster N1. “Split is a telling example—Tomislav Šuta could defeat Ivica Puljak in the runoff with support from Željko Kerum’s voters. Zadar and Dubrovnik look set to remain under HDZ control. Osijek, even more so.”
Pecnik said Zagreb remains an outlier, largely due to the political dynamics within the ruling HDZ party.
“If HDZ had a mayor in Zagreb, he would—whether he wanted to or not—immediately become a rival to the Prime Minister and party leader, in this case, Andrej Plenković. I believe HDZ deliberately chooses candidates like Davor Filipović and now Mislav Herman, who are unlikely to win big but also unlikely to suffer a crushing defeat. HDZ prioritises control in other regions,” he said.
Pecnik attributed the strong performance of incumbent Zagreb mayor Tomislav Tomašević to the intensity of attacks he faced during the campaign.
“I won’t get into the Hipodrom affair, but you can’t govern a large city for four years without being tied to some controversies. That’s politics. Still, no one stands a chance against Tomašević in the second round,” he said.
The analyst also pointed to a heavy defeat for the SDP in Rijeka—once a party stronghold—and urged the party’s leadership to address its collapse in Osijek.
“The SDP is in deep crisis. It no longer knows who it is speaking to,” Pecnik concluded.
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