Party Analysis: Možemo! (Croatia)
A Green-Left Breakthrough on the Adriatic
“Možemo!” (“We Can!”) was once an urban protest platform; it is now Croatia’s most credible green-left force. Founded in 2019, the party emerged from civic activism in Zagreb, combining environmentalism, anti-corruption, and social justice with a critique of Croatia’s post-independence political settlement. Positioned on the progressive left, Možemo draws disproportionate support from urban professionals, younger voters, and disillusioned centre-left constituents alienated by both the long-dominant Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the declining Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Its national breakthrough came in the April 2024 parliamentary elections, where it secured 10 seats in the 151-member Sabor with 9.1 per cent of the vote, becoming the fourth-largest party. Since then, its trajectory has been upward rather than spectacular. By December 2025, national polling placed Možemo at around 10-12 per cent, buoyed by decisive victories in the May 2025 local elections. Most notably, Tomislav Tomašević was re-elected mayor of Zagreb with 65 per cent of the runoff vote, confirming the party’s dominance in the capital. While Croatia remains far from a green-left realignment, Možemo has moved from the margins into the centre of opposition politics.
Why Možemo! Exists
Možemo emerged from a convergence of civic frustration and organisational opportunity. Throughout the 2010s, Croatia combined electoral stability with deep institutional weakness: entrenched patronage networks, recurring corruption scandals, and limited policy responsiveness - particularly on environmental protection and urban governance. This produced what critics described as a “stabilitocracy”: surface-level democratic continuity masking elite capture beneath.
The party’s roots lie in Zagreb-based activism, where environmentalists, academics, and NGO leaders mobilised against opaque urban planning, pollution, and cronyism. Its formative moment came during the 2019 Zagreb local elections under the banner “Zagreb je NAŠ!” (“Zagreb is Ours”), capitalising on scandals such as the 2018 Maksimir Stadium bribery affair and broader disillusionment with HDZ rule. Unlike earlier protest movements, Možemo translated civic energy into durable organisation, formalising as a national platform by 2020.
Politically, it filled a widening gap on the left. The SDP’s repeated compromises in coalition and its failure to renew leadership left progressive voters politically homeless, while the rise of nationalist and far-right actors narrowed the ideological space for liberal reform. Možemo positioned itself as both an ethical corrective and a programmatic alternative - less nostalgic than the old left, but more institutionally serious than single-issue movements.
What the Party Has Achieved
Možemo’s most consequential achievement remains local rather than national. Its victory in the 2021 Zagreb local elections ended three decades of alternating HDZ - SDP dominance in the capital and installed Tomašević as mayor. Control of Croatia’s political, economic, and symbolic centre gave the party administrative credibility and policy visibility.
In office, Zagreb pursued a reformist but cautious agenda. Measures included the creation of an anti-corruption procurement body in 2022, expansion of affordable housing )adding roughly 1,000 units by mid-2025) and early adoption of restrictions on single-use plastics. Crisis management during the 2024 heatwaves, integrating green infrastructure into urban planning, further reinforced the party’s governing profile.
Nationally, Možemo’s impact has been more limited but not negligible. Its 10 MPs after 2024 strengthened parliamentary scrutiny and helped stall several HDZ-backed proposals on environmental deregulation. The May 2025 local elections consolidated its urban base: over 200 municipal seats, control of three city councils, and vote shares approaching 30 per cent in Zagreb itself. Yet without access to executive power at the national level, Možemo remains an agenda-setter rather than a policy-maker - and coalition tensions with the SDP have periodically constrained momentum.
What Success Would Look Like
For Možemo, success is less about protest and more about replacement. The party’s immediate ambition is to displace the SDP as the dominant force on the Croatian left and to co-anchor a post-HDZ governing coalition by the 2028 parliamentary elections. This would require both electoral growth beyond major cities and proof that green-left governance can scale nationally.
Substantively, the party defines success through institutional reform: a national anti-corruption framework with independent oversight, accelerated decarbonisation with a target of carbon neutrality by 2040, and expanded social provision, including universal childcare and migrant integration. At the local level, replicating the “Zagreb model” in mid-sized cities is central to normalising its approach to governance.
Over the longer term, Možemo aims to embed ecological justice into Croatia’s EU posture, positioning the country as a regional leader on climate policy in the Adriatic and Western Balkans. Whether this vision translates into durable power depends less on ideological appeal than on coalition discipline and territorial expansion.
Electoral Rules and Strategic Constraints
Croatia’s electoral system both enables and limits Možemo’s rise. The proportional allocation of 140 parliamentary seats across ten multi-member constituencies using d’Hondt favours larger parties but allows concentrated urban support to translate into representation. The absence of a national threshold lowers barriers to entry, while minority seats and diaspora constituencies continue to advantage the HDZ.
Reforms equalising constituency sizes reduced some rural overrepresentation, but structural constraints remain. Možemo performs strongly in Zagreb and a handful of urban centres, yet struggles in conservative regions such as Slavonia, where it polled below 5 per cent in 2024. Fragmentation on the left further depresses returns, as Možemo and the SDP compete for overlapping electorates.
Coalitions are unavoidable: no party has governed alone since 1990. While rising youth turnout - up eight points in 2024 - offers opportunities, HDZ’s willingness to partner with nationalist actors has repeatedly sidelined green-left alternatives. Without broader alliances or geographic diffusion, Možemo’s national ceiling remains constrained.
How Critics See It
Opponents portray Možemo less as a reformist force than as an urban anomaly. HDZ figures and conservative commentators depict the party as an elitist circle of “eco-radicals” disconnected from Croatia’s tourism-dependent economy, citing public transport fare increases in Zagreb as evidence of fiscal naïveté. Far-right parties accuse it of cultural permissiveness and subservience to “globalist” agendas, particularly on migration and EU integration.
Even on the centre-left, scepticism persists. Some SDP veterans dismiss Možemo as a boutique movement - strong on civil society ethics but weak on class politics and pragmatic compromise. Across the spectrum, critics argue that its anti-corruption rhetoric risks moralism without systemic reach. Whether these critiques endure will depend on the party’s ability to demonstrate administrative competence beyond favourable urban terrain.
How It May Be Remembered
Možemo’s long-term significance hinges on endurance. If it succeeds in embedding environmental governance and transparency into Croatia’s political mainstream - particularly as climate pressures intensify along the Adriatic - it may be remembered as the catalyst for a green realignment in a post-socialist democracy. If not, it risks being recalled as a moment rather than a movement: a disciplined but ultimately localised challenge to entrenched power.
Either way, Možemo has already altered the terms of debate. Croatia’s politics are no longer defined solely by nationalist conservatism versus a fatigued social democracy. Whether that opening produces systemic change remains an open question - but the space it created is real, and no longer easily closed.