2021 Zagreb local elections

2021 Zagreb local elections

← 2017 16 May 2021
30 May 2021 (runoff for mayor)
2025 →
Mayoral election
Turnout47.14% (first round)[1] Increase 6.00 pp
45.07% (runoff)[2] Increase 3.93 pp
 
Candidate Tomislav Tomašević Miroslav Škoro
Party We Can! DP
Alliance Green-Left Coalition DP-ZL
First round 147,631
45.15%
39,789
12.16%
Runoff 199,630
63.87%
106,300
34.01%

Mayor before election

Jelena Pavičić Vukičević (Acting)
BM 365

Elected mayor

Tomislav Tomašević
We Can!

Assembly election

All 47 seats in the Zagreb Assembly
24 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
Green–Left Tomislav Tomašević 40.83 23 +20
HDZ coalition Mislav Herman 11.30 6 −8
DP coalition Miroslav Škoro 10.59 5 +4
BM 365 Jelena Pavičić Vukičević 9.04 5 −6
SDP Joško Klisović 8.88 5 −2
Most Zvonimir Troskot 6.20 3 +3
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Speaker before Speaker after
Mislav Herman
HDZ
Joško Klisović
SDP

Elections were held in Zagreb on 16 May 2021 for the 53rd mayor of Zagreb, the two deputy mayors, the 47 members of the Zagreb Assembly, the councils of districts and the local committees, as part of the 2021 Croatian local elections.[3] The runoff for the mayor took place on 30 May 2021.

As Zagreb, being the national capital, is the only Croatian city to enjoy a special status within Croatia's regional administrative framework (being both a city and a county), the mayor of Zagreb likewise also enjoys a status equal to that of a county prefect (Croatian: župan) of one of Croatia's other 20 counties (Croatian: županija). The city's county-level status is also highlighted in the name of its legislature, which is uniquely styled as a city assembly (Croatian: skupština; a term reserved for units with regional self-government, i.e. counties), and not as a city council (Croatian: vijeće; which is used for units with local self-government, i.e. cities and municipalities).

The elections followed in the wake of the late February death of long-time Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić. Since the start of the campaign, and especially in May 2021, polling for mayor had consistently placed left-wing social activist and environmental researcher, Tomislav Tomašević, clearly in the lead, with 30–40 percent of the vote (as was also the case with his Green–Left Coalition in the Assembly election). Meanwhile, the candidates of Croatia's two major parties – the HDZ and the SDP, were well behind, as were conservative musician-turned-politician Miroslav Škoro, acting mayor Jelena Pavičić Vukičević and former Minister of Justice Vesna Škare-Ožbolt.[4][5][6] In the week leading up to the election, several candidates filed charges against one of the polling agencies, Akter Public, accusing it of influencing public opinion to benefit Miroslav Škoro over several other candidates.[7][8][9][10][11] Akter Public issued a denial, while Škoro's Homeland Movement admitted that it had engaged in business transactions with Akter Public.[12]

The first round of the mayoral election, held on 16 May 2021, was convincingly won by leftist candidate Tomislav Tomašević (with 45.15%), while right-wing nationalist Miroslav Škoro finished a distant second (with 12.16%). Furthermore, Tomašević's number of votes is the highest of any first round candidate since the introduction of direct mayoral elections in 2009.[13] However, as no candidate received a majority of the votes, a run-off took place on 30 May 2021.[14] Tomašević was elected mayor with 63.87% of the vote, against Škoro's 34.01%.[15] In addition, just as was the case in the first round, Tomašević's second round performance once more set a new record for the number of votes received by a mayor candidate in Zagreb. Namely, his almost 200 thousand votes was larger by nearly 30,000 than that which Milan Bandić received in the second round of the 2013 election.[16][17]

Meanwhile, in the Assembly election, the Green–Left Coalition won 23 of out the 47 seats (thus falling just one seat short of an overall majority), and later entered into a coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party, which won 5 seats.[18][19]

  1. ^ "Rezultati | Lokalni izbori 2021". Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Rezultati | Lokalni izbori 2021". Archived from the original on 31 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Lokalni izbori 2021". izbori.hr. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Nova anketa za Zagreb: Škoro i Filipović gotovo izjednačeni, Tomašević premoćno vodi". Index.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Tomašević vodeći iako mu pada potpora, Pavičić-Vukičević povećala prednost". Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Ekskluzivno istraživanje Dnevnika Nove TV: Tko osvaja Zagreb? Čini se kao da je sve riješeno". Dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). Nova TV. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Jutarnji list - Tko širi lažne informacije o nekim kandidatima u Zagrebu? Akter Public: 'Mi se tim brojem ne služimo'". 12 May 2021.
  8. ^ "HAKOM potvrdio kome pripada broj koji je pokazivala Škare Ožbolt, jeste li iznenađeni?". 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Jutarnji list - 'Anketari odvraćaju ljude i od Troskota i paralelno odrađuju kampanju za drugog kandidata'". 11 May 2021.
  10. ^ "MOŽEMO! UZVRAĆA UDARAC: 'Svi su ovo doživjeli, osim Miroslava Škore'". 13 May 2021.
  11. ^ "IMAMO DOKAZ: Agencija koju je prozvala Škare Ožbolt radi lažne ankete za Škoru". 12 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Jutarnji list - Akterpublic: 'Opovrgavamo Grmojine optužbe, anketa je provedena stručno i nepristrano'". 13 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Tomašević osvojio više glasova nego Bandić ikada u prvom krugu".
  14. ^ "Jutarnji list - Tomislav Tomašević ide na Škoru u drugom krugu, Puljak ispred Mihanovića u Splitu!". 16 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Tomašević je novi gradonačelnik Zagreba, Puljak pobijedio u Splitu. Drama u Istri".
  16. ^ "Tomašević je upravo osvojio više glasova nego Milan Bandić ikada u 20 godina vladavine!". 30 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Veliki gradovi izabrali nove gradonačelnike".
  18. ^ "Jutarnji list - Kakva dominacija Možemo!: Nedostaje im samo jedan mandat za apsolutnu većinu u Skupštini". 16 May 2021.
  19. ^ "[VIDEO/DOKUMENT] Možemo! I SDP potpisali koalicijski sporazum. Evo što je tko dobio u Skupštini grada Zagreba".