ZAGREB, 9 February 2021 - Davor Filipović will be the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) candidate in the race for the position of mayor of Zagreb at the coming local election, unofficial sources from HDZ's Zagreb branch said on Tuesday.
Confirmation of Filipović's candidature is expected at an online session of the party's Zagreb branch on Wednesday.
Davor Filipović (36) was born in Sarajevo. He obtained his PhD at the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and is a lecturer in the Organisation and Management Department. He also studied at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
He is an HDZ councillor in the Zagreb City Assembly and the chairman of the finance and budget committee. He is chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Hrvatske Šume forest management company.
Filipović is also the secretary of HDZ's Zagreb branch and last year he accused incumbent Mayor Milan Bandić of was leading the city into bankruptcy.
Filipović emerged as HDZ's candidate for mayor of Zagreb after negotiations with the temporary director of the Reconstruction Fund, Damir Vanđelić, fell through.
Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenković said on Monday that the party's presidency and national council had agreed on who the party's candidate for Zagreb mayor would be. He did not reveal who that was but claimed that the candidate was a "better option than Vanđelić."
