Milanovic and Bandic: There is some secret connection!

A vote for Milan Bandic at the forthcoming elections could easily become a vote for Zoran Milanovic. They are both running in the first electorate and if Milan Bandic’s independent list doesn’t exceed the election threshold as polls suggest, all his votes will go to his former boss according to the D’Hondt method.

And why did Milan Bandic actually run as a candidate in the same electorate as Zoran Milanovic? Previously he used to run as a candidate in the second electorate that includes the part of Zagreb where Bandic had the most stabile electoral base, as it was suggested by all public polls. One election unit where Bandic would be more successful is the 11th electorate, and a surprising fact of most political analysts is that Zagreb mayor doesn’t have the list for Diaspora at all.

Although Bandic’s associates announced just a couple of months ago that they would run the elections in all 11 electorates with Bandic’s independent list or a party, eventually Bandic has decided to run in four Zagreb electorates. And the way he entered the campaign suggests he is running in those four electorates like someone being forced to do so. He didn’t spend even 10 percent of money, people and energy for this campaign as he had spent during the Presidential campaign. Even the outcomes from Zagreb budget weren’t commonly ‘’electoral’’.

Until recently certain young and inexperienced journalists were reporting how Bandic generously gave money donations all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. They concluded that he would run the campaign in Diaspora with a city budget. But Bandic has been giving those money donations frequently for 11 years. It all started when he took the first chair of the Croatian capital for the first time. He soon began to realize that he can win the local elections even in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Zagreb is the only Croatian city where the majority of population consists of newcomers. And when someone helps the person’s hometown, it will be one step forward for that person to give his vote. No matter if the natives of Zagreb like it or not. That is the reason why Bandic had visited every single celebration of native clubs in Zagreb during all these 11 years. Let’s repeat, those donations didn’t rebound the average, and it was nothing compared to the amount that departed towards the adjacent state when Bandic was running for the President.

As a matter of fact, except Bandic’s verbal announcements (which were dragged out of him by constant media questioning), the Zagreb Mayor didn’t imply by any of his acts that he would run the elections this year. Or he was even willing to do so. And the strangest thing of all is how he still acts uninterested even after he joined the election race. In what way? All alone, he was sitting in the café at lake Bundek . The news reporters received the invitation for that press-conference from an e-mail address where Bandic misses a last letter of his surname. There are a few people working in his election headquarters and he doesn’t even have a call-center. He is visiting almost all parts of the city Zagreb except the parts that belong to his electorate. During the last week he visited Dubrava. He acts like he has been avoiding his voters on purpose. He filled his lists with names of some young anonymous ladies, instead of distinctive names. And whoever advised him to appear on election posters all over Zagreb in a leather jacket with fur, apparently doesn’t have a clue about basics of political marketing. Bandic looks more like boisterous guest worker than the mayor of one European capital.

To make the long story shorter, as we could list those flaws forever, Milan Bandic’s campaign is a sample of how not to run the campaign. And it’s not like he doesn’t know how to. Whatever you think about Milan Bandic, he has a PhD in running a campaign. He also had a great mentor. He has studied for years from the longest-standing mayor of Vienna. Since Bandic runs this campaign in the way even he knows he shouldn’t, there are more and more speculations starting to appear that Bandic was forced to the elections.

The rumors that HDZ forced Bandic to the elections became more common within political corridors but that theory has no sense at all. Milan Bandic can take away the votes only from Gordan Jandrokovic and not from Zoran Milanovic. And every vote that Bandic takes away from Jandrokovic is one more vote for Zoran Milanovic who wouldn’t get this vote by any chance. And why would HDZ stimulate someone to take away HDZ’s votes. That theory would even stand a chance if Bandic was giving an effort to exceed the election threshold. There would be some sense in ‘’better Milan than SDP’’ when Bandic’s men would enter the Parliament in all four electorates where they are running. And polls don’t give them those chances. They don’t trouble themselves to reverse that trend. If they don’t exceed the threshold in any electorate, all their votes will go to Kukuriku coalition due to the mentioned D’Hondt method since the coalition convincingly took the lead in all four Zagreb’s electorates.

So as we look for anyone who forced Milan Bandic to the elections, we should observe to see who will benefit from it the most. As far as now, only people who will benefit from Bandic’s ‘’campaign’’ are Kukuriku coalition members. And the votes will be brought to Zoran Milanovic by the name of Milan Bandic in person.

Why? Only they know why. Zagreb citizens will find it out after the elections. They will also find out if SDP is going to keep their promise and initiate the referendum for the mayor dismissal. Our evaluation is that SDP will give up from the referendum as they will say that Croatia has more bigger and urgent problems than the mayor replacement. And Bandic will peacefully meet the regular local elections. He has started the campaign for those elections on time. And the time is now.