OTHER THAN THE triumph of the HDZ, the likes of which have not been seen in Croatian parliamentary elections since the 1990s, another surprise of these elections is the success of the green-left coalition, i.e., the Mozemo! (We Can!) Platform.
The Green-Left Coalition, which consists of the Mozemo!, the Nova ljevica (New Left), the Radnicka fronta (Workers' Front), the ORaH (Sustainable Development of Croatia), the Zagreb je nas! (Zagreb is ours!), and the Za grad (For the City), won as many as seven seats in the new parliament assembly. These seats will be taken by Tomislav Tomasevic, Sandra Bencic, Damir Bakic, Vilim Matula, Rada Boric, Katarina Peovic, and Bojan Glavasevic.
They started by opposing Bandic
It is a team that started by opposing Milan Bandic in Zagreb, the man who was indicted multiple times by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime. Speaking of which, Bandic experienced a total debacle in these elections and has not won a single seat in the parliament, which is at least in part due to the work that the Mozemo! platform has done.
All the new representatives of the Mozemo! Platform are well-known to the public, especially to left-wing voters. The most left-leaning among them is without a doubt Katarina Peovic from the Radnicka fronta, who "got famous" during the pre-election campaign by suggesting that savings be taken away from the people who are considered rich by the Radnicka fronta.
"About 51,000 rich people in Croatia have about € 9.93 billion in their bank accounts. It is necessary to redistribute all funds in banks that exceed the amount guaranteed by the State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Rehabilitation of the Banking System, that is, the savings exceeding about € 92,642, to crisis relief funds.", reads the program of Katarina Peovic, from which it can only be concluded that the Radnicka fronta wants to confiscate and nationalize private savings of citizens in the amounts higher than € 92,642.
It is difficult to imagine that someone from the green-left coalition could become a "pawn"
Given its success in the parliamentary elections, and especially taking into consideration the election debacle of the SDP, the party that has so far generally received a huge number of votes from left-leaning voters, it is clear that the Mozemo! became the future of the Croatian parliamentary left.
Another reason why the Mozemo! platform can be considered the future of the Croatian left is the fact that it is extremely difficult to imagine that any of its seven parliament members could submit to the ruling majority or make concessions to it in exchange for privileges. Basically, it is unlikely that any of the members of the green-left coalition would become anyone's "pawn", which is definitely not the case as far as the SDP's Restart coalition is concerned.
The Green-Left coalition, despite the fact that it started its work on the local, Zagreb political scene, managed to gather a number of names on its lists that are known to the wider Croatian public, from singer Mile Kekin to actor Vilim Matula.
Disappointed left-wing voters have turned to Mozemo!
Left-wing voters, apparently severely disappointed by Bernardic's SDP, have turned to the Mozemo! Platform.
"This is not a triumph, but we will keep fighting. Darkness is looming over all of us, but we are a new light in Croatian politics, and believe me, when I say, we will extinguish that darkness," Tomislav Tomasevic promised in his speech last night.
One thing is for sure - a significant part of left-wing voters placed all their hopes in the green-left coalition, especially in regards to the HDZ's landslide victory.
At the same time, it can be expected that the seven new representatives from the (actual) left will do their best to justify the trust placed in them by the voters.