Zagreb Crisis
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Zagreb Crisis (Croatian Zagrebačka kriza) is the name used to describe events that followed the elections for the City of Zagreb Assembly held on October 29th, 1995.
The Zagreb Crisis had its origin in the factional struggle within the ruling party of Croatia at the time, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In 1993 Josip Manolić, former prime minister, head of security services and the leader of party moderates has gradually lost favour of President Franjo Tuđman to extreme nationalists led by defence minister Gojko Šušak. In the spring of 1994, when it became apparent that he would lose the position of speaker of the Chamber of Counties, Manolić, together with speaker of Sabor Stipe Mesić organised mass defection of HDZ parliamentarians to a newly formed Croatian Independent Democrats party in hope of stripping Tuđman of a parliamentary majority. The effort ultimately failed and Tuđman maintained power on the national level. However, in a number of local and regional assemblies defection of HDZ members allowed opposition to gain majorities.
One of those was the Zagreb County Assembly. For Tuđman this apparently represented an embarrassing setback that he had to revert in any way possible. He initiated legislation aimed at merging the two administrative units, County of Zagreb and the City of Zagreb, and calling elections for the new, enlarged assembly. The idea was to drown the opposition-controlled Zagreb County from the votes from City of Zagreb, which was widely perceived as a solid HDZ stronghold at the time.
The new law was passed and elections called for October 29th 1995, coinciding with parliamentary elections. It was widely believed that the national euphoria following Operation Storm and Croatian military successes in the last stages of still-ongoing Bosnian War, together with massive propaganda drive from state media, would lead to Tuđman comfortably winning majority in new assembly.
First election results showed Tuđman's party to gain ground in rural areas of former Zagreb County, but, much to anyone's surprise, Croatian opposition parties appearing on the same ticket, scored spectacular success in urban areas of Zagreb. This was very apparent in blue-collar neighbourhoods that began to switch from HDZ to the reformed Communists, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, mostly due to populist rhetoric of Zdravko Tomac and organisational abilities of Milan Bandić. As a result, HDZ lost the elections for the new City of Zagreb Assembly, and Zdravko Tomac became the speaker of the Assembly.
Soon afterwards, opposition parties formed the governing coalition which elected a member of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) for the mayor.
The Croatian legislation at the time stipulated that the mayor of Zagreb had the status equal to a county prefect (župan), and, as such, had to be confirmed by the Croatian President. This was seen as a mere formality, because Tuđman had already made a precedent by confirming opposition prefect following catastrophic defeat of his party in Istria in 1993.
However, in the case of Zagreb, President Tuđman surprised many by claiming that he would not allow an "opposition situation" in the Croatian capital. He refused to confirm the opposition mayor, and the Croatian Government appointed a former city administration official Marina Matulović-Dropulić to manage the city.
City Assembly refused to acknowledge Matulović-Dropulić as mayor, but it could not appoint its own. Throughout next year and half, three more candidates from HSLS would be elected mayors, only to be denied confirmation from President. Plan to appoint Ante Ledić, a businessman with strong links to the HDZ, as a compromise solution, also failed. In the meantime, Matulović-Dropulić continued to run city affairs.
The spectacle of nation's capital having two administrations not recognising each other and country's leader refusing to acknowledge the will of the voters led many to believe that Croatia had experienced a dramatic drop in democratic standards during the war, and that this state of affairs won't be alleviated as long of Tuđman was in power. Statements by Tuđman, who increasingly began to describe opposition and its supporters as "foreign agents" and "enemies of the state" also attributed to that effect.
In November 1996, more than year after the elections, and with Zagreb Crisis still going on, the Croatian government tried to privatise Radio 101, a popular radio station known for its sharp criticism of Tuđman, and turn ownership to Ninoslav Pavić, a media tycoon widely perceived to be close to the regime. The announcement sparked spontaneous protest of citizens of Zagreb and more than 100,000 people gathered in the central Jelačić Square, which represented one of the largest protests in recent Croatian history. Although the immediate cause was the desire to preserve a popular city institution - an aim which they ultimately achieved - many protesters used the protest as an opportunity to express displeasure with Tuđman, who was treated for stomach cancer in Walter Reed Hospital at the time.
Regular elections for the City of Zagreb were held in April 1997. This time opposition parties ran on their own separate tickets, thus allowing the HDZ to win a plurality of 24 out of 50 seats. When two representatives of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) defected in exchange for lucrative government posts, HDZ finally gained a majority and was able to elect Marina Matulović-Dropulić as mayor. This formally ended the Zagreb Crisis.
However, most citizens of Zagreb and many sections of the Croatian public refused to acknowledge the new administration and for them the Zagreb Crisis continued. In May 2000, following elections that brought down HDZ on national level, new left-centre government of Ivica Račan called for special elections in Zagreb, which ultimately resulted in Milan Bandić becoming a new mayor.
