We can! (Croatia)

We Can! – Political Platform
Možemo! – politička platforma
AbbreviationMožemo!
Coordinators[1]Sandra Benčić
Tomislav Tomašević
Founded10 February 2019 (2019-02-10)
HeadquartersZagreb
Membership (2022)237[2]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left[12] to left-wing[14]
National affiliationGreen–Left Coalition
(2017–2024)
European affiliationEuropean Green Party
European Parliament groupGreens–European Free Alliance
Colours  Green
  Red
Sabor
10 / 151
European Parliament
1 / 12
County Prefects
1 / 21
Mayors
2 / 128
Zagreb Assembly
21 / 47
Website
mozemo.hr

We Can! – Political Platform (Croatian: Možemo! – politička platforma) is a left-wing, green political party in Croatia formed by local green and leftist movements and initiatives in order to act on the national level for European Parliament and parliament elections. After the 2021 local elections in Zagreb, they became the largest political party in the Zagreb Assembly, winning 23 seats in total.[15] Their mayoral candidate Tomislav Tomašević won a landslide victory on 31 May 2021.

History

[edit]

The party originated as the initiative committee consisting of activists and left-wing politicians, 26 of them, mostly coming from the Zagreb is OURS! party, but also including other independent movements across the country within the same political and ideological spectrum.[16][17]

Founding

[edit]

The party was officially founded on 10 February 2019,[17] prior to the elections for the European Parliament held that year, stating their primary areas of interest being better education, better health policies, social and gender equality, support for migrants, renewable sources of energy, and sustainable agriculture.[18]

The founding assembly defined that the party does not have an official president, but instead has two coordinators – for whom Sandra Benčić and Teodor Celakoski were elected among the members[17][19] – who along with another five members of the party make up its Party Board.[19] Other prominent members of the Initiative committee at the time, most of whom remain active, included Danijela Dolenec, Damir Bakić, Iskra Mandarić, Đuro Capor, Urša Raukar, Vilim Matula, Dario Juričan, Mima Simić, Ivo Špigel, Tomislav Tomašević and others.[20]

2019 EU elections

[edit]

The parties We can!, New Left, and Sustainable Development of Croatia formed a coalition on 28 March 2019 for the 2019 European Parliament election,[21] where they were expected to win one seat.[22] They also stated their support for the Green New Deal that is advocated by the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), and were subsequently supported by Yanis Varoufakis.[22][23][24] The We can!-led coalition ultimately received 1.79% of the popular vote and 19,313 votes in total.[25][26]

All seven MPs of the Green-Left Coalition, including four members of the We Can! platform.

2020 parliamentary elections

[edit]

Former SDP member and later independent parliamentarian Bojan Glavašević joined the coalition for the 2020 parliamentary elections as the first independent candidate.[27] Mile Kekin, the frontman of the punk-rock band Hladno pivo, joined the party during this period, along with his wife, psychiatrist Ivana Kekin.[28] Mile later authored the song that was used for the party campaigns.[29] Jane Fonda also expressed support for them in the election.[30] During this election, their popularity in Zagreb rose dramatically.[31] According to the results, the coalition won around 7% of votes and 7 seats in the parliament.[32] These seats were taken by Tomislav Tomašević, Sandra Benčić, Damir Bakić, Vilim Matula, Rada Borić (NL), Katarina Peović (RF), and Bojan Glavašević (Ind.).[33] In Dubrovnik, they managed to win 9% of the popular vote thanks to their cooperation with local platform Srđ je grad.[34][35]

2021 Zagreb local elections

[edit]

In the 2021 Zagreb local elections, they managed to win 40% of the popular vote and 23 seats in the City Assembly. The platform's candidate for mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, defeated right-wing candidate Miroslav Škoro in the second round, by a margin of 64% to 34%.[15][36]

Co-leaders

[edit]

No. Name Portrait Term of office No. Name Portrait Term of office
1 Teodor Celakoski 10 February 2019 18 March 2022 1 Sandra Benčić 10 February 2019 Incumbent
2 Tomislav Tomašević 18 March 2022 Incumbent

Party program

[edit]

The party designates itself as "a wide and progressive new political platform that aims to gather voters ranging from the radical left, through green, to social democracy".[37] The proposed developmental models seek to reduce precarious forms of work, strengthen economic democracy, and foster trade unions, as well as the legal rights of workers in general.[38][19]

Možemo! is a member of the European Green Party while its representatives in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe sit in the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group.[39]

Election results

[edit]

Parliament of Croatia

[edit]
Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Coalition Government
Coalition Možemo!
2020 Tomislav Tomašević 116,480 6.99%
4 / 151
 New Green–Left Opposition
2024 Tomislav Tomašević
Sandra Benčić 		193,051 9.10%
10 / 151
 Increase 6 None Opposition

European Parliament

[edit]
Election List leader Coalition Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
Coalition Možemo!
2019 Tomislav Tomašević Green–Left 19,313 1.80 (#12)
0 / 12
 New –
2024 Gordan Bosanac None 44,670 5.92 (#4)
1 / 12
 Increase 1 Greens/EFA

Zagreb Assembly

[edit]
Year Popular vote
(coalition) 		% of popular vote Overall seats won Seat change Coalition Government
2021 130,850 40.83%
19 / 47
 Increase 16 Green–Left Government

Presidential

[edit]

The following is a list of presidential candidates endorsed by We can! in the elections for President of Croatia.

Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round Result
Votes % Votes %
2024 Ivana Kekin ? ? TBA

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ https://mozemo.hr/upravna-tijela-stranke/ Upravna tijela stranke
  2. ^ "Izvješće o obavljenoj financijskoj reviziji - Možemo! — politička platforma za 2022" (PDF). State Audit Office (in Croatian). 12 October 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  3. ^ Tanner, Marcus (19 May 2021). "In Electing a Leftist Mayor, Croatia Follows European Trends". BIRN.
  4. ^ a b "Tomašević in strong lead in Zagreb mayoral election with green left platform". balkangreenenergynews.com. Balkan Green Energy News. 17 May 2021.
  5. ^ [3][4]
  6. ^ "CROATIAN POLITICAL PARTIES: A BRIEF SUMMARY". total-croatia-news.com. Total Croatia News. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  7. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram. "Croatia". parties-and-elections.eu. Parties and Elections in Europe.
  8. ^ Gužvica, Stefan (12 April 2021). "Možemo li?" (in Serbo-Croatian). Bilten. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  9. ^ [7][8]
  10. ^ a b "PREDSTAVLJENA NOVA POLITIČKA PLATFORMA 'MOŽEMO!'" [New political platform introduced]. net.hr (in Croatian). net.hr. 3 February 2019.
  11. ^ Lasić, Igor (27 Jun 2023). "Hrvatski lijevi centar – bez predizbornog ujedinjenja". dw.com (in Croatian). Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  12. ^ [10][11]
  13. ^ "Croatia's Ruling Party Eyes Big Win in Local Polls, but not Zagreb". balkaninsight.com. BIRN. 14 May 2021.
  14. ^ [4][13]
  15. ^ a b "Jutarnji list - Kakva dominacija Možemo!: Nedostaje im samo jedan mandat za apsolutnu većinu u Skupštini". 16 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Nova stranka Možemo! poručuje: Ljevica u Hrvatskoj se ne mrvi, ona se upravo budi". tportal.hr.
  17. ^ a b c "Možemo!, politička platforma koju čine brojni profesori, umjetnici i aktivisti, upravo je postala stranka". Telegram.hr. February 10, 2019.
  18. ^ "European Parliament Elections – What do parties in Croatia say about integration?". European Web Site on Integration. 13 June 2019.
  19. ^ a b c "We Can – New Leftist Political Party Founded in Croatia". www.total-croatia-news.com. 11 February 2019.
  20. ^ "Priopćenje za medije - Možemo! - politička platforma". February 3, 2019.
  21. ^ "POLITIČKA PLATFORMA MOŽEMO!, NOVA LJEVICA I ORAH ZAJEDNO IZLAZE NA EU IZBORE 'Očekujemo jedan mandat' - Jutarnji List". www.jutarnji.hr. March 28, 2019.
  22. ^ a b "Varoufakis Supports Croatia's We Can! Platform in European Election". www.total-croatia-news.com. 20 May 2019.
  23. ^ "Politička platforma Možemo! podržava "Zeleni New Deal" za Europu". H-Alter - Udruga za medijsku kulturu.
  24. ^ "Croatian EU Election Hopefuls Tout International Backers". May 15, 2019.
  25. ^ "National results Croatia | 2019 Election results | 2019 European election results | European Parliament". europarl.europa.eu.
  26. ^ Henjak, Andrija (June 1, 2019). "Croatia: Towards Further Fragmentation of the Party System".
  27. ^ "Glavašević na listi lijevo-zelene koalicije". www.hina.hr. 5 June 2020.
  28. ^ Teleskop (2020-06-09). "Ivana Kekin je SDP opisala kao stranku s krivim imenom i prezimenom: Je li ona nagovorila supruga Milu da se "baci" u politiku?". Teleskop (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  29. ^ "Mile Kekin - Happy people (Croatian:Sretni ljudi) video for party campaign". YouTube.
  30. ^ Vijesti.hr (29 June 2020). "Jane Fonda podržala Radu Borić i Možemo!: 'Naprijed Rada! Glasajte za listu broj 3!'". Vijesti.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  31. ^ "Što se zbiva u pozadini korone i Škorinih ekscesa? Nagli rast novih opcija na ljevici i centru". Telegram.hr (in Croatian). 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  32. ^ "Izbori 2020: DIP objavio tko je dobio mandate". www.hina.hr. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  33. ^ "The future of the Croatian left: Mozemo!". Index.hr. 6 July 2020.
  34. ^ platforma, Možemo! politička (2020-07-06). "Ulazimo u Sabor sa 7 mandata! - Možemo! - politička platforma". Možemo! -- politička platforma (in Croatian). Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  35. ^ "'Srđ je Grad' na izbore ide s platformom 'Možemo'". tportal.hr. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  36. ^ "Jutarnji list - Zadnji dan predaje lista: Istražili smo koliko potpisa su prikupili kandidati u 4 najveća grada". www.jutarnji.hr (in Croatian). 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  37. ^ "PREDSTAVLJENA NOVA POLITIČKA PLATFORMA 'MOŽEMO!': 'Ne možemo gledati kako političke elite zemlju vode u propast'". February 3, 2019.
  38. ^ "Početna - Možemo! - politička platforma". www.mozemo.hr.
  39. ^ "Ms Rada BORIĆ (Croatia, UEL)". pace.coe.int. PACE. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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