Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Pedja Grbin said on Thursday that he was sure that his party would bring together a centre-left bloc in the City of Zagreb to oust the current mayor Milan Bandic and remove his "octopus of corruption."

However, Grbin declined to specify whether the current head of the Zagreb SDP branch, Gordan Maras, would be the mayoral candidate of that bloc in the local elections which should be held in late May 2021.

Asked by the press, after the hours-long meeting of the SDP leadership on Thursday evening, whether Maras would be the mayoral candidate, Grbin said that the SDP presidency was not authorised to make decisions on candidates for local positions, and it was up to the SDP branch in Zagreb to decide on the matter.

Considering possible pre-election coalitions, Grbin said that it was also up to local branches to decide what could be in their interest.

In the coming weeks, local branches are expected to inform the party’s secretariat about their plans and goals for the local elections which Croatia holds on the third Sunday in May every four years.

Grbin said he believed that when it comes to Zagreb, he was for the plan that will “guarantee the removal of the octopus of corruption embodied” in the practices by Mayor Bandic.

I believe that all political parties in the political spectrum from the centre to the left will sit at the table and agree on some form of cooperation so that Zagreb can get the authorities it deserves, he said.

The SDP leader remained vague about whether the SDP should have its mayoral candidate for the capital city, and only commented that he was certain that the parties in that potential coalition should agree on the best candidate.

Grbin criticised the government for how it was handling the Covid-19 epidemic.

“The government is hiding behind the national coronavirus crisis management team,” he said accusing the team of making inadequate decisions considering the current situation.