ZAGREB, 18 May, 2021 - The Green-Left Coalition's candidate for the mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, said on Tuesday that after the 30 May runoff, which he expects to win, the coalition would embark on a reorganisation of the city administration and ask the heads of its 27 departments to offer their resignation.

"If we want a change, it is our right to ask the city ministers, as well as directors of city-owned companies... to offer their resignation," Tomašević said at a news conference.

He noted that he would ask current office-holders to submit reports and evaluate their work, while new department heads would be chosen in public procedures and the number of city departments would be reduced due to reorganisation.

Tomašević said that he would not make any rash moves and would hold meetings with all department heads and ask them to report on what had been done so far.

"The only criterion will be one's performance, and I have been familiar with that, having been a city councillor for the past four years," he said.

Citizens urged to apply

He called on citizens who believe they have the necessary qualifications to apply once vacancies are advertised, noting that they would be expected to implement the political goals of the Green-Left Coalition's platform.

Tomašević also commented on the statement by his rival Miroslav Škoro of the Homeland Movement, who on election day, 16 May, referred to him and his coalition as the far left.

"That kind of tactic does not and will not work in Zagreb, as shown by the election outcome," Tomašević said, noting that he did not intend to demonise his political rivals.

He noted that in the first round of the election Škoro had led a smear campaign.

This was proved by the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) as it has turned out that Škoro had hired an agency that phoned voters and vilified his rivals, Tomašević said, noting that he would continue a positive election campaign.

He called on voters to give him the largest possible support in the runoff, adding that every vote would count as it would enhance the legitimacy of the planned changes.

The coalition of the We Can! platform and its partners won 23 of the 47 seats in the Zagreb City Assembly, and Tomašević said that they would discuss forming the majority, based on programme cooperation, with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) but not before the runoff.

He noted that he had already discussed this with the SDP's mayoral candidate, Joško Klisović, and that he did not expect any problems with the formation of a stable majority.

Tomašević said that he expected to be supported in the runoff by candidates from the centre to the left, which Klisović already did after the first round of the election, calling on SDP voters to support Tomašević in the 30 May runoff.

Danijela Dolenec, a candidate for Tomašević's deputy, said that the results of elections for local government units, showing that their slate was the strongest in 16 of the 17 of Zagreb's districts, proved that citizens had recognised that their coalition's relationship with citizens was based on partnership.

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Just how well do Croatian city administrations work, how well do Croatian mayors actually do their jobs, and how are Croatian companies performing? All will be revealed...

As Vedran Marjanovic/Novac writes on the 9th of April, 2019, just like in 2018, this year, Croatia is beginning to thoroughly monitor and evaluate the work of its many mayor and the administrations of 126 Croatian cities in order to choose the best among them, and all local authorities have been pushing for better management in favour of their respective residents. This is the main mission of the second time of voting for the best Croatian cities under the organisation of the Gradonačelnik.hr portal and the Ipsos agency.

''Last year, when the idea of ​​monitoring and evaluating the work of city administrations was initially launched, we weren't able to see how much the project would demand in terms of organisation, media, logistics and research, and after last year's award ceremony for the the best cities, we're proud to say that we created a sustainable methodology for the monitoring and ranking of Croatian cities. After all, we're convinced that we have developed the first credible metric to monitor the quality of life in Croatian cities. Since the cities themselves, as well as our readers, have recognised the seriousness of our Best City project this year, we decided to take it to a new level - we turned it into a year-round project. Additionally, while last year we ranked the work of city administrations first, this year we will also have competitions for Croatian companies in terms of Smart City and Eco City solutions.

Our goal is to create a platform that will bring the public closer to local politics, primarily by comparing the performance of Croatian local self-government units,'' stated Vanja Sertić, the founder of Gradonačelnik.hr's project, who also expressed her expectation that this year's selection of the best Croatian cities will contribute to creating a positive competition among local leaders which will ultimately also make the lives of their fellow citizens better.

Months of research and evaluation of Croatian cities will culminate in the final announcement of the winners on October the 4th this year in six categories and in three competitions - the large (over 35,000 inhabitants), the medium (between 10,000 and 35,000) and the small Croatian towns with a maximum of 10,000 inhabitants. The main categories are quality of life, economy and education with demography, youth and social policy. Special categories are Eco city, Smart City and EU Fund Champion.

"We will analyse all of the publicly available statistics, carry out and conduct surveys among the cities, as well as among their residents, and thus create a list of cities that have something to boast about,'' said Vanja Sertić.

This is a comprehensive evaluation of the indicators of Croatian cities, for example in the category of quality of life, research includes data on the city's safety and security, budget allocations for culture and sports, real estate prices, the number of parking spaces and the quality of the city's transport. In addition, according to Ante Šalinovic of Ipsos, this time statements of the citizens themselves are being taken into account, as is their perception of the quality of life in the areas where they live and work.

''Last year, we participated in the creation of methodology for the selection of the city with the best quality of life in Croatia, linking different pieces of statistical data with the perception of satisfaction with life in those cities. We determined that each parameter influences the quality of life and we ultimately ranked the cities. In 2019, we'll continue to explore the quality of life in Croatian cities, with an additional methodology upgrade to get the most accurate ranking of the cities that provide their citizens with the best quality of life and living standards,'' Šalinović told Novac.

By introducing a special Smart City Award for technologically advanced city management solutions or in providing citizens' services, this election of the best Croatian cities seeks to measure the consistency of local self-government units with contemporary trends.

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Click here for the original article by Vedran Marjanovic for Novac/Jutarnji