Green-Left Candidate Wins Zagreb Mayoralty, Promises Change

Young green-left candidate Tomislav Tomasevic, leader of the Mozemo! (We Can!) party, came out on top in the local election run-off on Sunday in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, winning the most votes in the history of mayoral races in the city.

Tomasevic took 199,630 votes or 65.25 per cent, comfortably beating his right-wing rival, Miroslav Skoro, leader of the Homeland Movement, who won 34.75 per cent.

Tomasevic will replace Zagreb's longstanding mayor Milan Bandic, who died of a heart attack in February.

"Thank you for your trust, thank you for your hope, and for your persistence for real change to be possible," Tomasevic said at his election headquarters while celebrating victory.

A former city councillor, Tomasevic already an MP in the Croatian parliament, where his party is part of the opposition green-left coalition. He is well-known for his activism and criticism of Zagreb's decay under Bandic's rule.

In the past two weeks, Tomasevic and Mozemo! have found themselves under attack from the Croatian right, who accused them of taking money from abroad. Many observers have described the recent campaign as the dirtiest campaign so far.

"The last days of the campaign were challenging, but we remained, as we promised, positive, and I will not repeat the lies we were exposed to," Tomasevic said.

Commenting on the results for the HINA news agency, political analyst Zarko Puhovski said that it was "a triumph for Mozemo! because they got a better result than anyone in the democratic tradition of Zagreb".

However, he cautioned, the party now bears "a big responsibility".

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