The second round of local elections were held in Croatia on Sunday. Information on the first round was posted here.

In the second round, the most notable contests were for the mayors of the largest cities. The elections were seen as a test of the ruling HDZ (Croatian Democratic Party) government in competition with the leading opposition party, the SDP (Social Democratic Party).

In the first round the HDZ did less well in the cities, but better in the district councils. This pattern was repeated at the second round. (At the second round only the top two candidates were eligible to stand).

On the basis of results from the State Electoral Commission, in the mayoral race in Zagreb the SDP was well ahead of an independent candidate. The HDZ did not even make it through to the second round. In Vukovar the SDP just beat the HDZ. In Dubrovnik, the SDP won easily. In Osijek the HDSSB coalition, led by the convicted war criminal Branimir Glavas, easily beat the HDZ. In Sisak, the HDZ was a whisker ahead of the SDP candidate. In Velika Gorica the HDZ beat the SDP. In Split the independent candidate easily beat the SDP.

By contrast, the HDZ did better in the county council elections. For example in the Split-Dalmatia council the HDZ easily beat the SDP. In the Dubrovnik county council the HDZ also won.

Overall, Balkan Insight reports the results as a setback for the HDZ government. However, after similar results two weeks ago, the HDZ prime minister, Ivo Sanader, is reported by Nacional, a Croatian newspaper, to have decided that they provided him with enough backing to stand for the presidency at the next election in January 2010.