Green–Left Coalition

Green–Left Coalition (Croatian: Zeleno–lijeva koalicija) is a centre-left to far-left and green left political alliance in Croatia, currently represented by seven MPs.

Green–Left Coalition Zeleno–lijeva koalicija
Leader	Collective leadership
Founded	2017 (as the Left Bloc)
Ideology	Social progressivism Democratic socialism Green politics
Political position	Centre-left to left-wing
European affiliation	EGP-GUE/NGL
Colours	Red   Green
Croatian Parliament	7 / 151
European Parliament	0 / 12
Zagreb Assembly	4 / 51
Politics of Croatia Political parties Elections

It is currently composed of the We can! - political platform, New Left, Sustainable Development of Croatia, Workers' Front, as well some Zagreb local political parties and platforms, such as Zagreb is OURS! and For the City movements.

History

The coalition was formed in 2017 for the Zagreb local elections as the Left Bloc (Croatian: Lijevi blok), where it won 4 out of 51 seats in the Zagreb local Assembly, and profiling itself as the most vocal opposition to mayor Milan Bandić and his local majority coalition with right-wing political subjects.[1][2]

All seven MPs of the Green-Left Coalition, elected at the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election.

For the 2019 European Parliament election[3][4] and upcoming July 2020 national parliamentary election in Croatia, members of the political alliance continue to collaborate. For the 2020 parliamentary election, the coalition changed its name into the current one. In the upcoming elections the coalition began rising in the polls from the start of campaign and receiving media coverage on daily basis. In June 2020 independent MP Bojan Glavašević joined the We can! - political platform and the coalition parliamentary election list.[5]

Front-men of punk-rock Hladno Pivo, one of the most popular rock bands in country Mile Kekin and his wife Ivana (clinical psychologist) also joined the party list as socialists who were concerned with a lack of social policies in the established centre-left SDP.[6] Kekin also authored the song that was used for the coalition promotions titled "Happy People".[7] Prominent theater maker and performer Mario Kovač also joined as the lead candidate of the list for diaspora (again through a performance action). The coalition's participation in the elections was also supported by a number of public figures, including musicians Damir Urban, Ljiljana Nikolovska and Davor Tolja,[8] journalists Vedrana Rudan, Tomislav Jakić and Viktor Ivančić, multimedia artist Slaven Tolj, as well Bosnian conceptual artist and left-wing activist Damir Nikšić. To add to this, in the last week towards the elections new public figures used video to express support like actor and activist Jane Fonda[9] or voting commitments from numerous individuals.[10] The coalition also received support from the Democratic Socialists of America, the Party of the European Left, GUE/NGL and the European Greens, as well as political organizations from neighboring countries, such as The Left from Slovenia, United Reform Action from Montenegro, Social Democratic Union and Do not let Belgrade d(r)own from Serbia. The Coalition came fifth in the election, winning around 7% of the votes, and being granted 7 parliamentary seats in the 151-seat Croatian parliament.[11] They celebrated their results at the MSU in Zagreb.[12]

Composition

Member party		Main ideology	Position	Croatian Parliament	European Parliament	Zagreb City Assembly
	We can!	Social progressivism Green municipalism	Left-wing	5 / 151	0 / 12	0 / 51
	New Left	Social democracy Democratic socialism	Centre-left to left-wing	1 / 151	0 / 12	1 / 51
	Workers' Front	Democratic socialism Social progressivism	Left-wing to far-left	1 / 151	0 / 12	1 / 51
	Zagreb is OURS!	Green municipalism Eco-socialism	Left-wing	0 / 151	0 / 12	1 / 51
	For the City[13]	Municipalism Progressivism	Centre-left	0 / 151	0 / 12	1 / 51
	ORaH	Green politics Social progressivism	Centre-left to left-wing	0 / 151	0 / 12	0 / 51

Electoral performance

Parliament of Croatia

Year	Popular vote	% of popular vote	Overall seats won	Seat change	Government
2020	116,480	6.99%	7 / 151	7	opposition

Zagreb City Assembly

Year	Popular vote	% of popular vote	Overall seats won	Seat change	Government
2017	24,706	7.64%	4 / 51	4	opposition

European Parliament

Year	Popular votes	% of popular votes	Overall seats won	Seat change	Affiliation
2019	21,975	2.03%	0 / 12	—	EGP-GUE

References

1. Lokalni izbori, 2017, zgizbori.hr, arhiva izbora
2. "Croatian Intellectuals Unite to Oust Bandic From Zagreb". March 6, 2017.
3. National results Croatia, 2019 European Parliament election results, europarl.europa.eu
4. Henjak, Andrija (June 1, 2019). "Croatia: Towards Further Fragmentation of the Party System".
5. Glavašević na listi lijevo-zelene koalicije
6. 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). Retrieved 2020-06-14.
7. "Mile Kekin - Happy people (Croatian:Sretni ljudi) video for party campaign".
8. https://torpedo.media/katarina-peovic-sve-popularnija-podrska-stigla-od-damira-urbana-ljiljane-nikolovske-davora-tolje-vedrane-rudan/
9. Vijesti.hr. "Jane Fonda podržala Radu Borić i Možemo!: 'Naprijed Rada! Glasajte za listu broj 3!'". Vijesti.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 2020-06-30.
10. "Podrška Archives - Možemo! - politička platforma". Možemo! -- politička platforma (in Croatian). Retrieved 2020-07-06.
11. "hina.hr". www.hina.hr. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
12. "Tomašević: Ušli smo u Sabor, a nakon 20 godina maknut ćemo Bandića s vlasti". www.vecernji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 2020-07-06.
13. "2017 Local elections results" (PDF). March 6, 2017.