Željko Kerum
| Željko Kerum | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament | |
|
In office 22 December 2011 – 28 September 2015 |
|
| Prime Minister | Zoran Milanović |
| Constituency | X electoral district |
| 70th Mayor of Split | |
|
In office 1 June 2009 – 7 June 2013 |
|
| Deputy | Željko Šundov |
| Preceded by | Ivan Kuret |
| Succeeded by | Ivo Baldasar |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 September 1960 Ogorje near Muć, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia (now Croatia) |
| Political party | Croatian Civic Party (HGS) |
| Spouse(s) | Ankica Ana Kerum (divorced) |
| Domestic partner | Fani Horvat (since 2010) |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | Nevenka Bečić (sister) |
| Occupation | Politician, entrepreneur |
| Profession | Mechanical technician |
Željko Kerum (born September 25, 1960) is a Croatian entrepreneur and a politician. He was mayor of Split, between 2009 and 2013, after which he failed to qualify for the second round of elections. He also owned the supermarket chain Kerum until it folded in 2012.
Željko Kerum was born in the village of Ogorje (part of Muć) in the Dalmatian hinterland. He graduated from the Technical High School in Split, Croatia in 1978. In 1981 he got his first job in the Split construction company Melioracija spending a year in Iraq working on military bases.
He founded the company Kerum in 1989, opening his first convenience store in 1990. Six years later he opened his first supermarket in the Lora neighborhood of Split. In 2003 he bought the Diokom industrial facilities (ex-Jugoplastika) and in 2007 he opened the Joker Shopping Mall, the largest in Dalmatia at the time.
In the first round of the 2009 elections for mayor of Split, Kerum (independent) won 40.21% of the popular vote, while his closest rival Ranko Ostojić (SDP) won 34.72%. On May 31, he won 58.42% of the vote, making him the incumbent mayor of Split.
In September 2009 during a live television interview on the Nedjeljom u 2 talk show that airs on the Croatian state broadcaster HRT 1, in response to host Aleksandar Stanković's question if Serb businessmen are welcome in Croatia, Kerum answered: "If it was up to me I wouldn't let them because Serbs never brought us anything good in the past and they won't do it now. Not only Serbs, but also Montenegrins. And whoever is doing business with them will not make out OK". Asked further by Stanković if he would accept a man of Serb ethnicity as a son-in-law, Kerum answered emphatically: "No, never".
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