site.btaCroatia’s Ruling HDZ Reclaims Ground in Local Elections

Candidates from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 280 out of a total of 576 local and regional self-government units, according to the results after the second round of local elections in Croatia Sunday, announced by the State Electoral Commission.

The ruling party will hold 15 county prefect positions (out of 20 counties plus the City of Zagreb), as well as mayorships in two of the largest cities – Tomislav Suta in Split and Ivan Radic in Osijek. Tomislav Tomasević (from the coalition of the Mozemo! platform and the Social Democratic Party) won a second term as mayor of Zagreb, and for the first time in its history, Rijeka will have a female mayor – independent Iva Rincic.

HDZ achieved a double victory – both county prefect and mayor of the county seat – in all counties in Dalmatia: Zadar County and the city of Zadar, Sibenik-Knin County and the city of Sibenik, Split-Dalmatia County and the city of Split, and Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the city of Dubrovnik.

In Pula, the former leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peda Grbin, was elected mayor, and the winner in Vukovar was Marijan Pavlicek, the candidate of the Croatian Sovereigntists and the Domino party.

The Social Democratic Party will hold the county prefect positions in Koprivnica-Krizevci and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties, while independent Boris Miletic won a second term as county prefect of Istria County.

Despite low voter turnout – which, according to the final data from the State Electoral Commission, was 23.45% – ten points lower than in the first round and the lowest since local elections have been held in Croatia (since 1993) – the Croatian Democratic Union has demonstrated that the party has recovered from the severe defeat in the presidential elections in January this year.

After the State Electoral Commission announced the official results of the local elections, Croatian Television broadcast a speech from the HDZ election headquarters by party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

"We are truly pleased with the election results. We have more mayors in five cities and seven municipalities compared to the 2021 local elections. It is now clear that Dalmatia is firmly in our hands, and regardless of what the opposition imagines, Croatia is blue again, and HDZ is the strongest party in Croatia," Plenkovic added, congratulating all candidates who earned the trust of the citizens.