Addressing the press in the HDZ campaign headquarters after the second round of the elections on Sunday evening, Plenković said that the unanimous opinion of the HDZ leadership was that “the HDZ is the absolute, colossal winner of these local elections.”
“We won 15 out of the 20 Croatian counties,” he said, congratulating all the candidates who won the confidence of the electorate for their four-year terms as mayors, county prefects, or city and municipal councilors, and he also thanked voters for having gone to the polls.
Plenković said that the policy of gradual strengthening of the party in the west of Croatia yielded results.
After 20 years, Varaždin County and Bjelovar-Bilogora County have prefects from the HDZ, and the HDZ again has its prefect in Lika-Senj County, he said.
He added that the party would analyze why the incumbent prefect of Šibenik-Knin County, a member of the HDZ, was unseated.
Of the six biggest cities, the HDZ won the local elections in three: Osijek, Zadar, and Velika Gorica. Unfortunately, we did not win in Split. However, we won in Osijek for the first time since establishing our democracy, Plenković said.
Concerning recent developments in Split, he said that the elections had been smeared because the elected deputy mayor had publicly shown his antisemitism.
“This is a disgrace for him and Split. I expect the new mayor (Ivica Puljak of the Centre party) to distance himself clearly from him and the deputy to resign. It is unacceptable that the second biggest city in Croatia has such a man as the deputy mayor,” Plenković said.
HDZ wins elections in 45% of municipalities, 45% of cities, and 75% of counties
As far as other cities and municipalities are concerned, the HDZ’s performance in the local elections in at a similar level as four years before, according to Plenković.
The HDZ is the winner in 45% of municipalities, 45% of cities, and 75% of counties, he explained.
“We have won excellent, majority support of the electorate in the fifth year of this government’s term,” he said, promising cooperation with all the elected heads and councilors in local authorities.
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