Populism

This one is from Croatia, but all of my compatriots who perhaps might read this speak English, anyway... So:

We had local elections yesterday. The party I actively support (for the lack of anything better) (SDP) got 40% votes in Zagreb, bringing it to a single seat short of absolute majority in municipal assembly. The results in boroughs are even better. So, why am I depressed?

There it this guy who was instrumental in bringing Zagreb SDP from the dead a decade ago. The man is incorrigible populist: he appears everywhere, has quick solutions for all problems, taking shortcuts and openly ignoring laws. When he was "demoted" to deputy-mayor after a drunk driving incident, he somehow managed to continue to "rule" totally ignoring the new (incompetent) mayor. He had his successes, but also undertook several grandiose project of dubious values.

So, SDP conducted a number of low-profile opinion polls and concluded that electorate wants its bombastic, corner-cutting and scandal prone former mayor. Yesterday's results confirmed that. Sigh...