Candidates of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDU) won 280 out of a total of 576 local and regional units of local government in Croatia. This is shown by the results of the second round of local elections, announced yesterday by the State Election Commission, BTA reports.
The ruling party will lead 15 of the 20 districts in the country, including the capital Zagreb, and will have mayors in two of the largest Croatian cities - Tomislav Šuta in Split and Ivan Radić in Osijek. In Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, a candidate for the coalition between the We Can! platform and the Social Democratic Party, was re-elected for a second term.
The city of Rijeka will have a female mayor for the first time in its history - independent candidate Iva Rinčić.
The HDO achieved a double victory - for the regional governor and mayor of the regional center - in all districts of Dalmatia: Zadarska and Zadar, Šibenik-Kninska and Šibenik, Split-Dalmatiaska and Split, as well as Dubrovnik-Neretvaska and Dubrovnik.
In other key cities:
In Pula, the former leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Pedža Grbin became mayor;
In Vukovar defeated Marijan Pavlicek, candidate of the Croatian Sovereignists and the Domino party.
SDP will lead two districts - Koprivnica-Križevci and Primorsko-Goranska, and independent Boris Miletić won a second term as regional governor of Istria.
Despite the low voter turnout - just 23.45%, ten points lower than the first round and the lowest since the introduction of local elections in 1993. - HDO has shown that it has recovered from its loss in the presidential elections in January.
After the official results were announced, HDO chairman and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in a statement to Croatian Television:
“We are truly satisfied with the results. We have mayors in five cities and seven municipalities more than in 2021. Dalmatia remains our bastion. Croatia is blue again, and HDO is the strongest party in the country.“
He congratulated all elected representatives for winning the trust of the citizens.