Who are the first certain winners of the elections in seven cities and 119 municipalities

At the very moment the polling stations closed, we can declare at least 126 winners of these local elections. We could have done this earlier, but we refrained to avoid accusations of violating the electoral silence. However, these convincing (mayoral) winners were not concerned about any violation of electoral silence, nor the results of pre-election polls and changes in current ratings. They were not afraid even of airing dirty laundry and last-minute turnarounds. It was enough for them to stroll to the polling place on Sunday and circle their name on the list. They would be elected even if only one person showed up at the polls in seven cities and 119 municipalities. There is certainly no second round here, as the candidates for mayors and municipal heads had no opponents.

All seven certain mayors are candidates of the HDZ, a party that demonstrates its strength in this way – by being present in the largest number of local self-government units (LSUs). All of them were mayors in the previous term as well. Josip Bilandžija in Garešnica and Dalibor Bišćan in Hrvatska Kostajnica have today received their second mandate ‘unopposed’, that is, without opponents, and they are now joined by Dalibor Čandrlić (Kraljevica), Mirjana Puškarić (Slunj), Josip Budimir (Kutjevo), Vinko Kasana (Lipik), and Antonijo Brajković (Skradin). Democratic progress has been achieved in Pakrac, where four years ago Anamarija Blažević (HDZ) had no opponent, while Zoran Krejči (SDP) and Tomislav Novinc (HDZ) have now run for her previous position.

Elections without opponents are not just a casual story for entertainment. Political competition does not exist in as many as 22 percent of the 576 LSUs. At the municipal level, these elections were practically unnecessary in as many as 28 percent of municipalities with a single candidate. Four years ago, there were 55 such LSUs, according to media reports (with 48 lonely candidates from HDZ). Now that number has more than doubled, also with the dominance of HDZ’s sole candidates. Only in the ring around the capital, in Zagreb County, as many as nine of today’s elected municipal heads (out of 25 municipalities) had no opponents, and all come from HDZ, or the partner group of Stjepan Kožić.

This trend not only questions the democratic nature of the elections as it paves the way back to a socialist past, when elections were merely a formality. It also highlights the problematic nature of the entire local self-government system, which is too fragmented for democratic confrontation, and especially for more rational spending of public money and effective management. However, this government has no intention of consolidating local self-government as it traditionally achieves poorer results in larger centers.