Few young people ran for office in recent local elections, and even fewer were elected to local executive and representative government, according to an analysis of the age of elected candidates by the State Election Commission (DIP).
According to this analysis, none of the 21 county prefects, as well as none of the 36 deputy county prefects, from the majority or national minorities, a total of 57, are under 30 years old; all are older.
Equally devastating are the data on the representation of young councilors in the 21 county and assembly assemblies of the City of Zagreb, which also has the status of a county.
Of the 781 councilors in these assemblies, only 23 or 2,94 percent are younger than 30 years old, the remaining 758 are older.
A third of counties, or seven of them, do not have a single councilor under the age of 30 in their assemblies, this is the case with Zagreb, Karlovac, Bjelovar-Bilogora, Požega-Slavonia, Šibenik-Knin, Istria and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties.
Only one young councilor was elected to the county assemblies of eight counties: Sisak-Moslavina, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, Brod-Posavina, Zadar, Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Srijem and Međimurje.
Two young councilors were elected to the county assemblies of four counties: Koprivnica-Križevci, Virovitica-Podravina and Split-Dalmatia, and the Zagreb City Assembly.
Three councilors under the age of 30 were elected to the Krapina-Zagorje County Assembly, and as many as four to the Varaždin County Assembly, which has 37 councilors.
Of the 31.082 candidates running in the local elections, 3761, or 12,1 percent, were under 30 years old.
The male candidates were on average almost 47 years old, the female candidates were slightly younger, their average age was 45 years, and the male candidates were 48.
Photo: HINA/Zvonko Kucelin
