Ivo Baldasar
Mayor of Split
In office
7 June 2013 – 28 March 2017
Preceded byŽeljko Kerum
Succeeded byBranka Ramljak (Acting)
Andro Krstulović Opara
Personal details
Born (1958-08-05) 5 August 1958[1]
Split, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Political partySTS (2017–present)
BM 365 (2016)
SDP (1998–2016)
SpouseSnježana Baldasar
Alma materUniversity of Split

Ivo Baldasar (born 5 August 1958) is a Croatian politician who served as Mayor of Split from 2013 until his resignation in March 2017. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) until he was thrown out of the party in 2016. After that, he joined forces with the Bandić Milan 365 party. In 2017 he formed his own party called The Split Party.

Political career

Baldasar spent his early career working as a lawyer within the tourism industry, concentrating mainly on maritime business.[2] He joined the SDP in 1998, and in 2009 became a city councilor for the city of Split. In 2012 he became the party's candidate for mayor of the city, winning the second round of elections over Vjekoslav Ivanišević to become the 71st mayor of Split.

On 9 May 2014 Baldasar attended the ceremony of revealing the monument to the 9th Battalion "Rafael Boban" of the Croatian Defence Forces (Croatian: Hrvatske obrambene snage or HOS) that participated in the defense of Croatian during the Croatian War of Independence.[3] His presence was criticised because of the Ustaše inspired symbolism used by the HOS, including naming their unit after Rafael Boban who commanded the Black Legion, dressing in black uniforms and using the Za dom spremni motto.[4] Some news reports suggested that after the commander of the Battalion ended his speech with Za dom spremni, the gathered crowd clapped, with Baldasar allegedly, reluctantly doing the same.[5] This was denied by Baldasar himself explaining he didn't hear anything and that he had an agreement with the organizers that such things wouldn't happen during the ceremony.[6] He later defended his actions explaining that the members of HOS were anti-fascists in a way, because they fought against a new form of fascism during the Croatian War of Independence. He concluded that his actions were an attempt overcoming historical differences and that he would do it again.[7]

Ahead of 2013 referendum for changing constitution so it would define marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, Baldasar urged people to vote against proposed change.[8]

On 7 May 2016, Zoran Milanović dissolved the SDP organization in Split and thus all the party members in Split were thrown out of the party until a new chain of command is organized. This was decided in order to prevent Baldasar from running again as mayor because his controversial stances have gained him unpopularity in the city.[9]

On 8 June 2016, he announced his collaboration with Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić for the next local elections.[10] In the 2016 parliamentary election Baldasar suffered a heavy loss winning only 303 votes.[11] In December 2016, the city council of Split voted against his budget proposals.[12]

In February 2017, Baldasar formed a new party called The Split Party. He also announced running again for mayor in the 2017 local elections.[13]

On 28 March 2017, Baldasar resigned as mayor of Split after his proposals were voted down in the city council.[14] In the 2017 Split local elections, The Split Party received only 239 votes for the city council while Ivo Baldasar finished last in the mayor race with only 553 votes.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Ivo Baldasar: Kongresni centar bit će atrakcija istočne obale". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 6 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Ivo Baldasar novi ravnatelj Agencije za obalni linijski pomorski promet". Lider (in Croatian). 14 August 2012. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  3. ↑ Brajević, Ines; Dadić, Joško (9 May 2014). "U Splitu otkriven spomenik IX. bojni HOS-a: "Pobijedili smo u Domovinskom ratu, pobijedit ćemo i u miru"" [Monument to the IX. HOS Battalion revealed in Split: "We won in the Homeland War, we will win in peace too"]. dalmacijanews.hr. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Baldasar na udaru zbog spomen-obilježja HOS-u" [Baldasar criticised because of the HOS monument]. vijesti.hrt.hr. Croatian Radiotelevision. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Skandalozni SDP-ov gradonačelnik Splita: Baldasar pobijedio antifašizam uz stijeg Rafaela viteza Bobana" [SDP's scandalous mayor of Split: Baldasar defeated antifascism with the flag of Rafael vitez Boban]. Index.hr. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Vuković, Slavica (14 May 2014). "Antifašist sam, ali HOS-ovcima bih opet došao" ['I'm an anti-fascist, but I would come to the HOS's again']. vecernji.hr. Večernji list. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Petranović, Damir (14 May 2014). "Opet bih otišao s HOS-ovcima. I oni su antifašisti!" ['I would go with the HOS's again. They are anti-fascists too!']. tportal.hr. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Ivo Baldasar: Glasam PROTIV! Zato jer se ograničava ljubav". Slobodna Dalmacija. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  9. ↑ Tomičić, Tihana (7 May 2016). "Splitski SDP-ovci zatečeni raspuštanjem njihovog ogranka, Bernardić jedini glasao protiv". tportal.hr. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  10. ↑ Vijesti.hr (8 June 2016). "Splitski gradonačelnik Ivo Baldasar iz SDP-a prelazi u Bandićevu stranku – Vijesti.hr". Vijesti.rtl.hr. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "BALDASAR KOMENTIRAO SVOJ IZBORNI DEBAKL: Žali sam sebe što je loše prošao –". Net.hr. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  12. ↑ Paun Paunovic / CROPIX (20 December 2016). "SPLIT IZGLASAO PRIVREMENO FINANCIRANJE ZA PRVO TROMJESEČJE 2017. GODINE Da prijedlog nije izglasan, Vlada bi morala postaviti povjerenika -Jutarnji List". Jutarnji.hr. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  13. ↑ "HRT: Osnovana Splitska stranka - predsjednik Ivo Baldasar". Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  14. ↑ "Baldasar odlazi, Split ostaje bez gradonačelnika". Index.hr (in Croatian). 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "Čak je i Mihael Darko Burazin dobio više glasova od Ive Baldasara". Dalmatinski portal (in Croatian). 1 May 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
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