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. 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 () of one of Croatia's other 20 counties (). The city's county-level status is also highlighted in the name of its legislature, which is uniquely styled as a city assembly (; a term reserved for units with regional self-government, i.e. counties), and not as a city council (; 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. 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. Akter Public issued a denial, while Škoro's Homeland Movement admitted that it had engaged in business transactions with Akter Public.
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. However, as no candidate received a majority of the votes, a run-off took place on 30 May 2021. Tomašević was elected mayor with 63.87% of the vote, against Škoro's 34.01%. 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.
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.
Background
The longest-serving and six-time elected mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić, died from a heart attack on 28 February 2021, less than three months before the election. Following his death, one of the deputy mayors, Jelena Pavičić Vukičević, temporarily assumed the powers and duties of mayor. Also, she became the acting president of the Bandić's Labour and Solidarity Party. It will thus be the first time since the 1997 elections that Bandić won't be running for the mayorship.
The Croatian government officially called the election on 14 April 2021, with the potential candidates then having two weeks to collect the number of signatures required by the Law on Local Elections.
Campaign Pre-election period and first round The election is taking place during the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected more than 63,000 people in Zagreb and caused over 2,000 deaths in the city, as of May 2021. Furthermore, Zagreb is still recovering from a series of natural disasters which struck the city during 2020. Namely, a major earthquake occurred in the city on 22 March 2020 and caused extensive damage to historic buildings. Then, nine months later, an even stronger earthquake in Petrinja only further weakened already damaged structures in Zagreb. Therefore, one of the main topics of the campaign is the adoption of a law on reconstructing the affected areas of the city.
Other major campaign issues include the troubling state of the city's finances, its allegedly oversized bureaucratic apparatus, as well as the corruption, nepotism and cronyism which took place during the Bandić administration.
Second round
On the night of 16 May 2021, when it became clear that no candidate had won enough votes for an outright victory, and when it was increasingly apparent that Tomislav Tomašević and Miroslav Škoro would thus face each other in a run-off, Škoro declared to his supporters that "regardless of who will win – Jelena Pavičić Vukičević, Davor Filipović or Miroslav Škoro" he would "stand against the left, especially a left of this kind, which has often shown that it contains elements of that to which neither Croatia nor Zagreb should return". He furthermore stated that the Green–Left Coalition is "neither green nor left, but extremely left". Such statements may be signaling a campaign which will be highly ideologically polarised between progressive and traditionalist voters. Austrian Der Standard wrote that Škoro's statements polarise the right-wing voters and could cause some to turn against him in the runoff.
The Independent and German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described the unexpectedly high vote shares attained by Tomašević and We can! as an upset for the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that "anything but a new victory for [Tomašević on 30 May] would be a sensation", and called the Croatian local elections a disaster for Croatia's biggest left-wing party, the SDP, which won just 8.9 percent of the vote for the Zagreb Assembly and generally performed poorly across the country. Zagreb was described as a possible "springboard" for the green politics of We can! in the national political arena, should their campaign promises be executed and should the fight against Bandić's "corruption and clientelism" succeed.
Mayoral candidates On 30 April 2021, the State Electoral Commission (SEC) confirmed that ten potential candidates had submitted at least 5,000 valid signatures from registered voters, and that they, as well as their running mates, had thus qualified to be official candidates for mayor and deputy mayor.
Candidate Party affiliation Running mates Party affiliation Notes about the candidate Proof of nomination Davor Filipović Croatian Democratic UnionIva Hraste-SočoCroatian Democratic UnionAssociate professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Zagreb. Member of the Zagreb Assembly.Submitted 13,000 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 29 April 2021. Mirjana Kujundžić Tiljak Joško Klisović Social Democratic PartyDina VasićIndependentFormer Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs.Submitted 6,500 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 29 April 2021. Renato Petek Anka Mrak-Taritaš Civic Liberal AllianceMirando MrsićDemocrats Member of the Croatian Parliament for the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (2016–2017) and the Civic Liberal Alliance (2017–present). Runner-up in the 2017 Zagreb election.Submitted 6,206 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 28 April 2021.Marko TorjanacIndependent Davor Nađi FocusDavor Huić FocusMember of the Croatian Parliament for Focus (2020–present). Former Deputy Mayor of Sveta Nedelja.Submitted 6,000 signatures to the State Electoral Commission (as announced by Nađi on Facebook). Mario Kolar Jelena Pavičić Vukičević Bandić Milan 365Ivica LovrićBandić Milan 365Incumbent First Deputy Mayor of Zagreb (2017–2021) and Acting Mayor of Zagreb (2021). Second Deputy Mayor of Zagreb (2009–2013).Submitted 12,000 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 22 April 2021. Otto BarićIndependent Vesna Škare Ožbolt IndependentKristina SušacIndependentLawyer. Former Minister of Justice (2003–2006).Submitted 8,000 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 29 April 2021. Ivan Slade Šilović Miroslav Škoro Homeland MovementSlaven DobrovićHomeland MovementFolk musician. Independent presidential candidate in the first round of the 2019–20 election. Member of the Croatian Parliament for the Croatian Democratic Union (2008) and the Homeland Movement (2020–present), and a Deputy Speaker of Parliament (2020–present).Submitted 14,000 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 27 April 2021. Ana LedererBloc for Croatia Željko Tokić IndependentBrunela RajilićIndependentEntrepreneur. Nominated by a group of registered voters.Submitted an undisclosed number of signatures to the State Electoral Commission.Tena Tuzla Tomislav Tomašević We can!, Zagreb is OURSDanijela DolenecWe can!, Zagreb is OURSMember of the Croatian Parliament for We can! (2020–present). Member of the Zagreb Assembly.Submitted 20,236 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 29 April 2021. Luka Korlaet Zvonimir Troskot Bridge of Independent ListsIva RemBridge of Independent ListsEconomist. Member of the Croatian Parliament for the Bridge of Independent Lists (2020–present).Submitted 8,700 signatures to the State Electoral Commission on 29 April 2021. Dajana Paušić Podhraški
Failed candidates The following individuals failed to submit signatures to the State Electoral Commission by the deadline on 29 April 2021. Ljubomir Majdandžić (Ind.), associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka and a HSS member Marina Pavković (Ind.), architect Srećko Sladoljev (HČSP), physician and immunologist Milivoj Špika (BUZ), professor of kinesiology Željko Uhlir (HNS), current State Secretary of Construction, Spatial Planning and State Property
Withdrawn candidates These individuals withdrawn their bids as candidates for the mayor. Otto Barić (Ind.), architect, son of Otto Barić Mirando Mrsić (Democrats), physician and a former Minister of Labour and Pension System Renato Petek (Ind.), member of the Zagreb Assembly Ivica Relković (Ind.), political analyst Herman Vukušić (Ind.), psychiatrist
Results Mayoral election On 30 April 2021, the State Electoral Commission (SEC) announced that 10 candidates had presented enough valid signatures from registered voters in order to be placed on the ballot in the elections for the mayor of Zagreb. CandidatesFirst roundSecond roundCandidatePartyVotes%Votes% Tomislav Tomašević We Can! / Zagreb is OURS! 147,631 45.15 199,630 63.87 Miroslav Škoro Homeland Movement 39,789 12.16 106,300 34.01 Jelena Pavičić Vukičević Bandić Milan 365 36,309 11.10 Davor Filipović Croatian Democratic Union 32,151 9.83 Joško Klisović Social Democratic Party 25,601 7.82 Vesna Škare Ožbolt Independent 16,682 5.10 Zvonimir Troskot Bridge of Independent Lists 13,480 4.12 Davor Nađi Focus 6,492 1.98 Anka Mrak-Taritaš Civic Liberal Alliance 2,743 0.83 Željko Tokić Independent 1,298 0.39 Total: 322,176 98.60% 305,930 97.93% Invalid votes: 4,589 1.40% 6,456 2.07% Uncast ballots: 210 – 148 – Turnout: 326,975 47.14% 312,534 45.07% Registered voters: 693,645 693,509 The percentage of the vote for each candidate is calculated from the number of total ballots (including invalid, blank and uncast ballots) The percentages of valid and invalid votes are calculated from the number of total ballots, but excluding uncastballots The turnout percentage is calculated from the number of registered voters Source:
Assembly election