Unofficial campaign for Zagreb Mayor is already well underway

After already voting for the Croatian parliamentary elections and the elections for European Parliament, Croatian citizens will vote at another two polls in the coming months. The presidential elections are scheduled for the end of the year, while local elections should be held in a little more than six months’ time.

The local elections are still more than six months away. However, in spite of this the unofficial campaign in Zagreb is already well underway. So far six candidates have already announced plans to run for mayor in Zagreb. For the majority the focus of their campaign is on the incumbent mayor's struggle to master garbage collection, worsening congestion in traffic and affordable housing.

The Plavi Grad Party candidate, Ivica Lovrić, who was a long–time associate of former mayor, Milan Bandić, says he offers a return to normalcy: "We have solutions for the key problems plaguing the city, such as waste management, governance and traffic solutions in the city of Zagreb. But also in restoring the social sensitivity that has been lost with this current administration."

Former SDP party president Davor Bernardić plans on running as an independent candidate and says his focus will be on affordable housing: "We will build apartments for sale at €1 700 per square meter and apartments for rent will be five euros per square meter, meaning that a young family will pay €300 for a 60-square-meter apartment."

Another independent candidate is Trpimir Goluža, who feels life in the capital has been degraded under the current leadership: "We need to make Zagreb a place where the average citizen can enjoy a pleasant, safe and quality living standard, and in this respect I believe that traffic and the issue of waste management should take priority."

HDZ candidate Mislav Herman says he will make changes to compliment government tax reforms and increase citizen’s salaries: "We will reduce the income tax rate in Zagreb and abolish surcharges, which was the main intention of the tax reform implemented by the government. This means that when we assume the reigns in Zagreb citizen's wages will increase."

In his defense the incumbent mayor, Tomislav Tomašević, said that his first mandate was focused on putting Zagreb's finances in order, adding that it is impossible to fix twenty years of bad management overnight: "There's the water supply, bridges, overpasses, underpasses, gas infrastructure, sports infrastructure, kindergartens, schools and of course traffic, so there is a lot that we have to invest in and now we can finally do that."

Source: HRT