Davor Bernardić (born 5 January 1980) is a Croatian physicist and politician who served as the president of the Social Democratic Party from 2016 to 2020. He also served as one of four SDP vice-presidents, leader of the SDP's Zagreb branch, and president of the SDP Youth Forum. Bernardić has been elected to the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

five times, representing the 1st electoral district.

Early life and education

Bernardić was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

on 5 January 1980 to civil servant Damir Bernardić and nurse Dragica (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Tešo). His paternal grandfather's brother Ivan Bernardić was a notable member of the

Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...

who was sentenced to long-term prison sentences in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

and the

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because of his political activism. His grandfather Josip was also prosecuted by the

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

so he had to emigrate to Austria, where he died. His maternal grandparents were members of the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

. Having grown up in modest circumstances and wanting to help his parents financially by learning vocation, after finishing elementary school he enrolled in the Nikola Tesla First Technical School. He showed interest in mathematics and physics and in 1996 he become national champion in physics and competed for International Physics Olympics. At the national competition in 1997 he came in second, and in 1998 national championship first. He started working at the age of 14. His father was participant of the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, and died in 1998. After finishing high school, Bernardić enrolled in the Zagreb Faculty of Science and since he was one of the best students he got a ''Nacional'' weekly scholarship which was handed to him by

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Ivica Račan Ivica Račan (; 24 February 1944 – 29 April 2007) was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments. Račan became the first prime minister of Croatia not to be a ...

. He was proclaimed a top student during his studies. In 2009, he became a research fellow at the postgraduate doctoral studies of physics at the Zagreb Faculty of Science. He also reported doctoral thesis in the Senate of the University of Zagreb, at the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business, on the topic of economics education with specialization in urban economics.

Political career

Bernardić became involved in politics in 1998 by joining the Social Democratic Party at the age of 18. He was actively involved in the SDP's

branch by having served as president of the Youth Forum branch (2005–2007), member of the executive board (2005–2009) and member of the Zagreb Assembly (2007–2009). From 2008 to 2010, Bernardić served as president of the party's Youth Forum, and from 2008 to 2012 as member of the SDP's main board. On 5 May 2010, Bernardić defeated Ivo Jelušić (at the time deputy mayor of Zagreb), winning 63.3 per cent of the votes of those SDP members who cast their votes, and had become leader of the SDP's Zagreb branch. He also served as president of the SDP's Councilor Club in the Zagreb Assembly. On 20 October 2013, he was re-elected as head of SDP's Zagreb branch. Bernardić got involved in national politics in 2008 when he became MP by replacing Milan Bandić who was at the time still the SDP member. He was re-elected to the Parliament in the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

parliamentary elections. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, he was not elected to the Parliament. After the election, he left the Social Democrats and since August 2024, he is a candidate for mayor of Zagreb, running on an independent platform. Bernardić married an economist Irena Coljak on 29 April 2011, but it was revealed in October 2019, the couple got divorced. During high school, he played basketball, judo, karate and kung-fu. He speaks English fluently, and is learning French. Bernardić is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

who believes that the faith is a personal matter, and that everyone should be free to express it in, according to themselves, the most appropriate manner, adding that social democrats should stand for solidarity, human dignity and equality "which are the values on which Christian doctrine is based." He has undertaken a pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardic, Davor 1980 births Living people Social Democratic Party of Croatia politicians Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Politicians from Zagreb Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb alumni Scientists from Zagreb