Zlatko Kramarić
| Zlatko Kramarić | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Osijek | |
|
In office May 1990 – May 2005 |
|
| Succeeded by | Anto Đapić |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
5 February 1956 Osijek, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Political party |
Croatian Social Liberal Party (1990–1997; 2006–present) Liberal Party (1997–2006) |
Zlatko Kramarić (born 5 February 1956) is a Croatian liberal politician from Osijek.
Kramarić was born in Osijek and graduated in philology (Macedonian literature) at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Later he obtained a master's degree and a doctorate from the same faculty.
He entered Croatian politics in 1990, during the first free democratic elections when he was candidate of non-partisan "Osijek List" (Croatian: Lista za Osijek) for Osijek local assembly. With the backing of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), he became the first non-Communist mayor of Osijek after 1945.
A year later, Osijek became a battleground in the conflict between Croatian government and local Serbs, backed by Yugoslav People's Army. During those events Kramarić had little power and city became under full control of local HDZ strongman Branimir Glavaš. But Kramarić, with his boyish looks, calm demeanour and a great sense of humour managed to use media spotlight in order to become one of the most charismatic and popular public figures in Croatia. Soon after the hostilities ended, Kramarić described his experience in a book of memoirs. Some of more colourful passages, especially those describing the role of local HDZ officials in the opening stages of conflict, brought him great enmity from government and even public threats against his life.
By that time, Kramarić had joined Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and quickly became one of its high-ranking-members. In 1993, HSLS easily won the election for Osijek City Council and Kramarić was elected mayor. Under his rule, Osijek became one of few liberal strongholds of Croatia.
In 1997, after a split in HSLS, Kramarić followed Vladimir Gotovac and joined newly formed Liberal Party (LS). In most of Croatia, HSLS quickly got the upper hand over its former dissidents, but not in Osijek, where LS was much stronger than HSLS.
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