The outcome of the local elections in Croatia could be reflected in the region through messages and hope that changes are possible, that it is possible to defeat ossified systems and a way of governing very often permeated with corruption and clientelism, that it is possible to defeat large traditional parties that have run out of ideas and quality personnel , where jobs were obtained with membership cards, public competitions were set up, where personal interest replaced the common good, Croatian journalist Anka Bilić Keserović tells "Vijesti".
"In Zagreb, 'Možemo' showed that it can be done, just as some independent players and smaller parties have shown it in some cities and areas," emphasizes Bilić Keserović.
The new mayor is a long-time activist and fighter for the public interest in Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević (39), candidate of the green-left coalition "Možemo", who in the second round of the election convincingly defeated the opponent from the right-wing Homeland Movement, singer and entrepreneur Miroslav Škora (59). .
Tomašević, who is considered a representative of the new generation of Croatian politicians, is a fierce critic of the two-decade and, according to many, corrupt rule of the recently deceased mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić. Tomašević's campaign was based on a promise to eradicate cronyism and the "corruption octopus" in Zagreb and make the capital "greener, fairer, more efficient and more transparent".
When asked by "Vijesti" whether his triumph can be interpreted as an announcement of a change of generations in the wider region and the arrival of politicians with a different attitude towards the performance of public functions, Marko Kostanić, editor-in-chief of the regional portal Bilten, says that such an interpretation would be too ambitious.
"Changes of political generations happen anyway by biological necessity, and every country in the region has its own specific political trajectory in the last thirty years. That is why it is perhaps more important to point out the fact that behind Tomašević and his closest collaborators was literally a mass organization that in the past few months visited the entire city and talked to people about their problems. Those problems were later integrated into the program, and people gained trust".
Kostanić points out that it is much more important that this form of political practice, based on the inclusion of wider layers and listening to their problems, be set as a political standard.
He agrees that the victory of the progressive forces in Zagreb is a trend that can be transferred to the national level, but that one should be careful in the assessment.
"First of all, it should be pointed out that the representatives of the "Možemo" platform, independently and in coalitions, entered the councils in every city where they ran for office. And in Pazin in Istria, they won the post of mayor. However, those cities were relatively few. This also tells us that they are also careful when expanding and are more inclined to a certain form of organic growth. Apart from concrete work on the ground, the eventual trend will also depend on the success of the exercise of power in Zagreb. If they meet the criteria they have set for themselves, then they will certainly inspire people in those parts of the country that have not been affected by their work and promotion of ideas."
When asked if there is a change in the political landscape that has been dominated by two parties for decades, Anka Bilić Keserović says:
"If you look at the complete results of these elections, it is absolutely certain that the two, still, strongest parties are facing a melting of support among voters. Although this time too they are bragging about the number of counties and cities won, the fact is that neither the HDZ nor the SDP won the two biggest cities - Zagreb and Split. What "Možemo" succeeded in Zagreb, the candidate of a small party succeeded in Split, and in these elections the trend of growth and success of independent candidates and lists, or some new political options, is visible. Wherever the changes have taken place, the message is similar: voters are fed up with ossified systems, corruption, clientelism and served politicians".
And she believes that the greater progress of the "Možemo" coalition on the Croatian political scene will depend mostly on what it will do in Zagreb.
"If they prove to be successful there, 'Možemo' will have great potential at the national level. They got the biggest city in their hands, but also the huge problems that Bandić left behind. It's true that they didn't flaunt their promises, but the expectations are too high and that certainly creates pressure," she told "Vijesti".
Success did not come overnight
Tomasevic won only four percent of the votes in the 2017 elections, and now 65 percent.
Asked to comment on what has changed in the meantime among the voters in the capital, the Croatian journalist says that Zagreb is a specific story because for 20 years it was sovereignly ruled by Milan Bandić.
"Invincible in the elections, the HDZ eventually sided with him, gave him a majority in the assembly and offered alibi candidates in the elections who had no chance anyway. After the split with Bandić, the SDP tried to compete with its candidates for mayor, but unsuccessfully, and an additional problem of the collapse of the SDP in Zagreb was the ties that people from the Zagreb organization of the party had with Bandić (many of them were employed in numerous city companies, and some were "bought" by Bandić in the assembly after the 2017 election at key moments for survival). The largest party organization was thus "tagged" for years, devastated in terms of personnel and organization. In four years, both parties did not offer fresh faces or ideas, nor did they work on it, communication with the citizens was null, and the city in general was deteriorating for years".
Bilić Keserović points out that the success of the "Možemo" coalition did not come overnight and that they first capitalized on their long-term activism on burning city problems and Bandić's affairs by entering the city assembly with four councilors, and then soon assumed the role of the loudest and fiercest opposition there.
"Last year's earthquake further emphasized the inability of both Bandić and the city government to deal with all the problems that this natural disaster opened up, and once again the representatives of "Možemo" were the loudest. That "click" happened with citizens who recognized their voice in them. "In the meantime, the parliamentary elections took place in which the Green-Left coalition entered the Parliament for the first time with seven representatives, which was a success that surprised even them," says Bilić Keserović.
The Parliament, she adds, has become a new stage and a new springboard for these local elections, for which they have carefully prepared.
"They were on the ground non-stop, visited every neighborhood and almost every street, listened and in the end capitalized on their work, but also the great dissatisfaction of the citizens who were afflicted by the corruption and clientelism that ruled the city for years".
Rejected backward and chauvinistic policies
Miroslav Škoro led a populist campaign to slander his opponents, which some politicians and analysts compare to the one successfully used by Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia.
Kostanić says that she helped Tomašević in such a way that she limited the reach of the opponent's "grabbing" of his voter base. Polls before the first round of the election predicted approximately the same result for Tomasevic in the second round. Also, Škora's campaign probably encouraged those who would have stayed at home "because Tomašević is certainly winning" to go to the polls and thus contribute to a bigger difference, he says.
"The second round, in addition to confirming Tomašević's victory, also had a kind of 'referendum' touch of rejecting backward and chauvinistic policies."
Anka Bilić Keserović says that Tomašević already in the first round jumped significantly compared to the other candidates, that he was the favorite from the first day and that anything but victory would be "shock and disbelief".
"The real question is what was Shkori's real goal and plan. The extreme right is having a hard time at the national level, and only in Zagreb it has no chance. If he thought to threaten Tomašević, he had to get closer to the center, and he didn't even try, so the real question is whether he really had serious plans for Zagreb or whether he used these elections to position the Homeland Movement for some future elections. I think that this was just a "touch of rehearsals" in which the Homeland Movement wants to position itself as a strong alternative to Plenković's HDZ, which for Škora and his team, but partly also for a part of HDZ members, is far from the center-right, as they define".
Being trapped in the nineties is not the fate of the Balkans
When asked by "Vijesti" why the Balkans were trapped in the matrix of the nineties for so long, Kostanić answered:
"I think the real question is why policies, movements and parties that were thought to be specific to the Balkans in the XNUMXs have appeared throughout Europe and in the United States in the last ten years. The rise of populist, nationalist and fascist forces in the so-called it shows the western world that what happened in the Balkans in the nineties did not arise from the Balkans as such, but that there were complex social, economic and political reasons behind it. The very fact of Tomašević's overwhelming victory shows that captivity is not destiny, you just need to organize yourself politically and send the right message. Of course, sometimes it is more difficult and demanding, given the levels of captivity of state apparatuses and the media system, but there is no other way. Europe will certainly not save us because it cannot even save itself".
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