Misplaced Pages

Tomislav Tomašević
Tomašević in 2021
53rd Mayor of Zagreb
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 June 2021
Deputy	Danijela Dolenec Luka Korlaet
Preceded by	Milan Bandić Jelena Pavičić Vukičević (Acting)
Member of the Croatian Parliament for 1st electoral district
In office 22 July 2020 – 18 June 2021
Succeeded by	Urša Raukar-Gamulin
Personal details
Born	(1982-01-13) 13 January 1982 (age 42) Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Political party	Zagreb is OURS! (2017–present) We Can! (2019–present)
Other political affiliations	Green–Left Coalition (2017–present)
Spouse	Iva Mertić ​(m. 2016)​
Alma mater	University of Zagreb University of Cambridge
Occupation	Politician activist environmentalist political scientist
Website	tomislavtomasevic.hr

Tomislav Tomašević (pronounced [tǒmislaʋ tomǎːʃeʋitɕ]; born 13 January 1982), nicknamed "Senf" (mustard) on the internet, is a Croatian politician, activist, environmentalist and political scientist who is serving as mayor of Zagreb since 2021. He is one of the leaders of the local Zagreb is OURS! political party and the national We Can! political party. Since the 2017 Zagreb local elections, he has been a delegate in the Zagreb Assembly. He was also elected to the Croatian Parliament in the 2020 election. He serves as the de facto leader of the Green–Left Coalition.

He ran for mayor of Zagreb in the 2021 local elections and defeated right-wing candidate Miroslav Škoro in the second round, by a margin of 64% to 34%. In the 2021 mayoral election in Zagreb, Tomašević received a record number of votes in both rounds.

Life

Early life and education

Tomašević was born in 1982 in Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia to mother Ivanka and father Smiljan. He and his brother Tihomir grew up in Zapruđe and later in Zaprešić as young family moved before his returning to Zagreb.

Tomašević's uncle, Ivo Tomašević, is a Catholic priest and a prominent member of the Episcopal Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His paternal grandparents were Bosnian Croats from Vidovice near Orašje.

Tomašević graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb in 2006, and completed a postgraduate of environment, society and development from the University of Cambridge in 2013. He received several awards and scholarships, including the Marshal Memorial Fellowship, Chevening Fellowship and Cambridge Overseas Trust Fellowship.

Personal life

In 2016 he married his wife Iva Mertić in a Catholic ceremony. Tomašević worked professionally in various non-governmental organisations.

Political career

Early activities

At the age of 16, as a young environmental protection activist Tomašević joined non-governmental organization Green Action. He was soon the first vice-president and later the president of the Croatian Youth Network (Croatian: Mreža mladih Hrvatske), a European Youth Forum full member organization. He was later a president of the Green Action from 2007, with Bernard Ivčić, longtime deputy, succeeded him as the president in June 2012.

Run for mayor of Zagreb (2017–2021)

In the 2017 local elections, Tomašević ran for mayor of Zagreb, at the head of a coalition led by the Zagreb is OURS! political party, and won 3.94% of the vote at the mayoral election. The coalition won four seats in the Zagreb Assembly. Tomašević was among the elected councilors from the coalition, and was a vocal critic of Mayor Milan Bandić in the Assembly.

Elections in 2021

In February 2021, Tomašević announced his candidacy for mayor of Zagreb in the 2021 local elections. Tomašević submitted 20,236 signatures to the State Electoral Commission (DIP) on 29 April. On the next day, the DIP confirmed that Tomašević and nine more candidates had submitted signatures from registered voters, and that they had thus qualified to be official candidates for mayor. On the 16 May elections, Tomašević won 147,631 votes (45.15%) making him the first candidate for new mayor in the second round. However, as no candidate received a majority of the votes, he faced Miroslav Škoro of the Homeland Movement in the second round on 30 May. In this elections, the Tomašević's father, Smiljan, was a candidate at the Homeland Movement list for the Zagreb Assembly.

On 30 May in the runoff, Tomašević won the mayoral office with 199,630 votes or 63.87% of the vote. He won over Škoro who received 106,300 votes or 34% of the vote. In addition, just as was the case in the first round, Tomašević's second round performance once more set a new record for the number of votes received by a mayor candidate in Zagreb. Namely, his number of almost 200 thousand votes was larger by nearly 30,000 than that which Milan Bandić received in the second round of the 2013 election.

Parliamentarian (2020–2021)

In the 2020 parliamentary election, at the head of the Green–Left Coalition, he was elected member of the Croatian Parliament in its 10th term. His parliamentary mandate begin on 22 July 2020. By the end of July, he joined four parliamentary committees, Physical Planning and Construction Committee, Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System, Interparliamentary Co-operation Committee, and executive committee of the National Group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

In the 2021 Zagreb local elections Tomašević got elected for the Mayor of Zagreb. Thus, he will have to resign from Parliament before assuming office as the mayor. On 18 June 2021, he put to dormant his mandate in Parliament. Since then his replacement has been Urša Raukar-Gamulin.

Mayor of Zagreb (2021–present)

Tomašević officially assumed the office of Mayor on 4 June 2021. The office of Mayor of Zagreb was handed over to him by acting mayor Jelena Pavičić Vukičević who took the office following the death of Mayor Milan Bandić. Tomašević came to the handover by tram and was late due to an emergency case on a tram station.

Media and opposition pressure

Within the first two months of appointment Tomislav Tomašević faced allegations by media and mostly right wing opposition of compromising his pre-election promises, corruption and investigations due to appointment of medical business owner Tomislav Lauc as the head of the Srebrnjak hospital who was sympathiser and small donor *(less than 2000 USD) of his party, as well as partial renewing of the contract of the city of Zagreb (due to lack of alternatives) with the notorious C.I.O.S Group owned by Petar Pripuz despite promise not to.

Support of LGBTI+ and other minorities

On 3 July 2021, Tomašević attended the 20th annual Zagreb Pride, alongside other Croatian politicians such as Social Democratic Party president Peđa Grbin and Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević. Doing so, Tomašević became the first mayor of Zagreb to attend the parade, which he had already been doing prior to becoming the mayor. He stated that "they, as the new city government, wanted to show that no one can be discriminated on any grounds."

Electoral history

See also

• List of mayors of Zagreb
• List of members of the Sabor, 2020–2024
• List of members of the Sabor, 2024–

References

1. Vijesti, R. T. L. "Na korak je do mjesta gradonačelnika Zagreba: Tko je Tomislav Tomašević?" (in Croatian). Vijesti.hr. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
2. ^ "Tomaševićeva bitka za birače centra: Hoće li mu stric svećenik i otac pravaš pomoći da pobijedi". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 21 February 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
3. Marković, M. "Tomašević je porijeklom Bosanac, otac mu je desničar, a stric ugledni svećenik" (in Croatian). Maxportal. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
4. ^ "Tomislav Tomašević" (in Croatian). Institut za političku ekologiju.
5. ^ "Tko je Tomislav Tomašević i što stoji iza fenomena Možemo! - najvećih iznenađenja ovih izbora". rtl.hr (in Croatian). 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
6. "Tomislav Tomašević Biography at zagrebjenas.hr". zagrebjenas.hr. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
7. "Mreža mladih Hrvatske". 15 June 2006. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
8. "Novi Upravni odbor i Vijeće Zelene akcije - Održana redovna Godišnja skupština Zelene akcije". zelena-akcija.hr. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
9. "Izabran novi predsjednik Zelene akcije". zelena-akcija.hr. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
10. "REZULTATI LOKALNIH IZBORA U sva četiri velika grada ide se u drugi krug!". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 21 May 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
11. "The future of the Croatian left: Mozemo!". Index.hr.
12. "Tomašević skupio najviše potpisa u Zagrebu, a evo tko je apsolutni rekorder na razini države". Jutarnji list. 29 April 2021.
13. "ZBIRNA LISTA PRAVOVALJANIH KANDIDATURAZA IZBOR GRADONAČELNIKAI ZAMJENIKA GRADONAČELNIKAGRADA ZAGREBA" (PDF). zgizbori.hr. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
14. "Premoćna pobjeda Tomaševića. Pogledajte slavlje: "Ulazimo u povijesnu eru"". Index.hr. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
15. "Tomašević uvjerljiv pobjednik u Zagrebu, Škoro uspio prestići Pavičić Vukičević". N1 HR. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
16. "Škoro nema apsolutno nikakve šanse protiv Tomaševića". Index.hr. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
17. "Tomaševića došao podržati otac, koji je na Škorinoj listi". Index.hr. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
18. ^ "Ovo su rezultati izbora u svim gradovima u Hrvatskoj". Index.hr. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
19. "Ogroman trijumf Tomaševića. Muškarac u stožeru napao zaštitare, palio vatru..." Index.hr. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
20. "Nitko nikad u Zagrebu nije osvojio ovoliko glasova kao Tomašević". Index.hr. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
21. "Tomašević je upravo osvojio više glasova nego Milan Bandić ikada u 20 godina vladavine!". 24sata. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
22. "Veliki gradovi izabrali nove gradonačelnike". vijesti.hrt.hr. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
23. "10th term of the Croatian Parliament (22 July 2020) - Tomislav Tomašević". sabor.hr. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
24. "Zakon o izborima zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor". zakon.hr. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
25. "Prisegnuli novi saborski zastupnici". index.hr. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
26. "Pavičić Vukičević: Primopredaja gradske vlasti najranije u petak". tportal.hr. Tportal. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
27. "USKORO UŽIVO Prvo obraćanje gradonačelnika Tomislava Tomaševića". Index.hr (in Croatian). 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
28. "Održana službena primopredaja izvršnih ovlasti gradonačelnika Grada Zagreba". zagreb.hr (in Croatian). Grad Zagreb. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
29. "Tomašević kasnio na primopredaju: 'Ispričavam se, jednoj ženi je pozlilo pa smo čekali Hitnu'". jutarnji.hr. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
30. V. P. P. (11 July 2021). "Tomašević imenovao donatora svoje kampanje u Upravno vijeće bolnice Srebrnjak; time će se baviti povjerenstvo za sukob interesa". Tportal.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 6 January 2022.
31. "Tomaševićeva 'trilema': Ako da posao C.I.O.S.-u, prekršio je obećanje; ako uzme skuplju ponudu, nema uštede; ako poništi natječaj, gdje će biootpad?". Nacional (in Croatian). 19 September 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
32. "VIDEO Povorka ponosa stigla na Ribnjak, Tomašević i Benčić među prvima u koloni". Index.hr (in Croatian). 3 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
33. HINA; Bajruši, Robert; Kukec, Tomislav; Karakaš Jakubin, Hajdi (3 July 2021). "U Povorci ponosa oko 2500 ljudi, među njima i Tomašević: 'Skupljanje poena na manjinama je jadno!'". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 3 July 2021.

Sources

• Vladisavljevic, Anja (27 May 2021). "Tomislav Tomasevic: From Grassroots Activist to Zagreb Frontrunner". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 27 May 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Tomislav Tomašević at 10th Croatian Parliament
• Biography at mozemo.hr

• 1982 births
• Living people
• Alumni of the University of Cambridge
• Croatian environmentalists
• Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni
• Politicians from Zagreb
• Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament
• 21st-century Croatian politicians
• Mayors of Zagreb
• Croatian LGBTQ rights activists