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Croatia:local elections on Sunday, a test for the government

Battle to win in Zagreb and other major cities

12 May, 15:53
(ANSA) - ZAGREBLA, 12 MAG - In Croatia, the local elections will take place on Sunday in a tense political climate comparable to a general election campaign. Political forces will struggle to conquer the four major cities: Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, and Osijek, where the outgoing mayors will end their mandate after many years.

The elections of 555 mayors and municipal councils and the 21 counties, in which 3.7 m citizens are going to vote, are a crucial test of popularity for both conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the opposition.

According to polls, a new coalition between the Greens and the radical left that has been on the rise for a year is the third biggest political force.

The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ, center-right) of the premier hopes to reconfirm itself as the ruling party, which has been in power at the national level for six years. Instead, the Social Democrats (SDP) are struggling to remain in power in Rijeka, a city they have been ruling for more than thirty years. The crucial battle will take place in Zagreb, ruled for two decades by the late mayor Milan Bandić, who died in February of a heart attack. A new political season seems to open up, as the coalition between the Greens and the radical left, called Možemo ('We can,' inspired in part by the Spanish Podemos), is favored in polls. According to all the polls, the young environmental activist Tomislav Tomašević could be the winner, defeating all possible rivals. (ANSA).

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