Milan Bandić
Milan Bandić (b. 1955 in Donji Mamići near
Grude in
Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a
Croatian politician, and member of the
Social Democratic Party of Croatia. He is the Mayor of
Zagreb, currently serving his third term.
Bandić moved to Zagreb and earned his degree at the Faculty of Political Science at the
University of Zagreb. He became a member of the
Communist Party and remained there after the
first democratic elections, being one of the few Herzegovina Croats to do so. As such, he proved to be a valuable asset for the reformed Communist party.
Bandić showed great organisational ability and populist instincts, that allowed the
SDP to make dramatic advances in Zagreb blue-collar neighbourhoods and attract votes that
Franjo Tuđman and his
HDZ party had considered their own by default. This manifested itself at the
1995 parliamentary and City of Zagreb elections, leading to the
Zagreb Crisis.
Milan Bandić was first elected
mayor in
2000, and then was re-elected on regular city elections in
2001.
During the first campaign, his Herzegovina background became an issue due to
Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) suggesting that only a native citizen of Zagreb could become the city's mayor. The HSS hoped that the majority of Zagreb voters would turn away from Bandić because his countrymen were widely perceived in the city to be a privileged class during Tuđman's regime and involved in all kinds of scandals. Those expectations weren't met, however, and Bandić later used his Herzegovina background as an advantage, broadening his support among elements of the Croatian establishment that held
right-wing political views.
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Buying flowers at Dolac market in Zagreb |
Bandić had a traffic incident in
January 2002, where he was speeding while intoxicated by alcohol, and then fled from the police and tried to bribe the officer who stopped him. He resigned his mayoral office because of this and was demoted to vice-mayor. In
January 2003, he suffered a stroke, but soon returned to office.
His rapid rise to power and popularity created a backlash, especially among liberal intellectuals gathered around
HNS and
Vesna Pusić, who dislike his populism and occasional defiance towards decisions made by courts and the national government. Nevertheless, the People's Party had ruled Zagreb in coalition with the Social Democrats between 2001 and 2005.
Since Zagreb generates almost 80% of Croatia's GDP, and the city budget exceeds 6.8 billion
kuna, Bandić is often perceived as the third most powerful politician in Croatia. This is the reason why he was able to maintain a political base independent even from the SDP, and remains as the only top Party official who could defy the party president and former Prime Minister
Ivica Račan.
Bandić was re-elected mayor in
2005.
Bandić is well known for being a
workaholic - he often claims to work 15-16 hours a day - which boosts his popularity. However, his health has suffered significantly because of this.
On
July 3,
2003, during a session of Zagreb City Council, he started feeling bad, and after the session he requested medical help. Media reported that he had a minor
stroke, but official explanation was that it was a
spasm of a
blood vessel in the
endocranium as a result of exhaustion and hard work (Bandić himself in his interviews refers to the condition as
stroke). He was hospitalised for a few weeks (where he was fed through a tube) and then transferred to the
Krapinske toplice (spa) for recovery. His political career was at the time regarded as finished, but he rapidly recovered and in early September of
2003 was again on duty.
On
September 24,
2005, while he was attending a wedding he became ill and after being transferred to hospital he was diagnosed with an
ulcer. He was medically treated and the next day he was at work.
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Milan Bandić official web site
