Fans of Zagreb's Embattled Mayor Form New Party

The party formed on Saturday by supporters of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic has only slim chances of polling well in the next parliamentary elections, experts say.

Bandic is currently in custody being investigated for corruption.

The mayor of the Croatian capital was arrested in October 2014 on suspicion of corruption, abuse of office and influence peddling.

In spite of that, his supporters gathered in Zagreb to found a new party, Bandic Milan 365 - Party of Work and Solidarity.

Political analyst Zarko Puhovski told BIRN he doubted it would get far. "The party has practically no chance of a positive result in the next parliamentary elections, by which I mean seats in parliament," he commented.

Puhovski conceded that the party might do better if early elections were held for the post of Zagreb mayor and for seats in the city assembly.

However, the fact that Bandic named Vesna Kusin as his acting mayor on Thursday suggested that he was not intending to got for an early re-election.

"Kusin's appointment as deputy with the authority of the mayor, while he is in prison, means Bandic will not resign, which means there will be no early local elections," he concluded.

Political analyst Davor Gjenero contested whether Bandic's party was even a party "in the strict sense of the word.

"A political party is an organization gathered around some common political values and ideology, or a common political programme," Gjenero stated.

"Here we are talking about a personality movement that is focused on the protection of the interests of one political leader."

He likened the new party to the Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja, which "presents itself as a regional party but really protect the interests...