European Forum

SDP Croatia satisfied with results of the second round of local elections

On 31 May the second round of local lections were held in Croatia. According to the preliminary results, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) and their coalition parties have won the mayoral race in Zagreb, Rijeka, Dubrovnik and Vukovar. SDP leader Zoran Milanovic was very satisfied with the results and stated that “these elections have confirmed that SDP is a great Croatian party.” He added that the results are very good, and that there is reason to be satisfied but not triumphal because of the economic situation in the country. In the first round of the elections SDP has won the majority of seats in 5 out of 20 county assemblies

Especially SDP win in Vukovar, where the ruling Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ) has been in power for twelve years, is considered as a great result. Furthermore, HDZ has lost in Dubrovnik. On the other hand SDP has lost its mayoral seat in Split, the second largest city, to the independent candidate Zeljko Kerum, one of the wealthiest individuals in the region, who won over 57% of the vote. Although Kerum has no political experience, he promised “to employ everyone in town and start working tomorrow”.

By the time polling stations closed the turnout was very low with 26.5 per cent. Local media reports quoted monitors as saying that the elections passed calmly and that irregularities were minor. The official results of the elections will be published on our website as soon as there are available.

Source: SETimes, BIRN, HRT (Hrvatska Radio Televizija) and SDP website.

See also: European Forum news item