Wikipedia

Sandra Benčić

Sandra Benčić (born 28 January 1978) is a Croatian politician and civil rights and gender equality activist who is serving as a Member of Parliament since 2020. She is a member of the green-left political platform We Can! since its foundation and has been serving as one of its two coordinators since 2023, together with Tomislav Tomašević.[1][2][3]

Sandra Benčić
Co-coordinator of the We Can! – political platform
Assumed office
18 March 2023
Preceded byPosition established
Member of Parliament
Assumed office
22 July 2020
ConstituencyElectoral district I
Personal details
Born (1978-01-28) 28 January 1978 (age 46)
Zabok, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partyWe Can! (2019–present)
Alma materUniversity of Zagreb

Career edit

She graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Law in 2014.[4]

She is a member of the Centre for Peace Studies (CMS), where she worked until 2018, mostly on the topics of inequality and migration. She also has experience dealing with regional development and EU funds, as a consultant and a co-founder of one of the first consulting companies for EU funds in Croatia – "Razbor", where she worked until 2010.[1]

Benčić is one of the founders of the human rights "Solidarna" foundation. She was a member of the Commission for Handling Complaints in the Ministry of Interior and the Council for the Development of Civil Society.[5]

She was elected to Sabor as one of the leading candidates of the Green–Left Coalition in the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election. A representative of the I Electoral district, she is serving as Chairwoman of Parliament's Environment and Nature Conservation Committee.[6]

Ahead of the 2024 Croatian parliamentary election, on September 16, 2023, she was chosen uniformly by the members of party council of the political party We can! as a candidate for the position of the Croatian Prime Minister.[7] In her first public address, Benčić placed emphasis on social and economic equality of all Croatian citizens, the safety and certainty of the work of public institutions as well as equality of all citizens under the law. Furthermore, she placed emphasis on green transition, stating that Croatia needs to be "..one of the most successful countries in green transition which does not create losers of transitions, but instead creates a more just society...".

In February of 2024, after the controversial appointment of the judge Ivan Turudić to the position of State Attorney of Croatia by a Prime Minister Andrej Plenković,[4][6] Sandra Benčić, together with other parliamentarians belonging to left wing We can! party, protested in front of Croatian Sabor the whole day and night before the official voting in the parliament where Turudić was voted in by a majority held by Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).[8] Following the vote, Benčić announced organization of large protest against the appointment "on next Saturday" alongside 11 political parties from the left wing and center of political spectrum.[9] The protest managed to gather more than 5,000 people in the heart of Zagreb Upper Town.[10] During the protest, Sandra Benčić spoke about Croatian emigration problem and called out corruption scandals by the governing party HDZ, and expressed her wishes that "Croatia becomes a country from which people do not leave so that they can live, but instead a country where people come to lead good lives." [11]

In 2024 Croatian parliamentary election, Sandra Benčić was the first candidate for the We can! political party in the first electoral district.[12] After the surprise announcement that the current President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović will be a Prime Minister candidate for the Rivers of Justice coalition, Benčić announced that the course of plans for the election campaign for We Can! will remain unchanged and that they will still seek an arrangement with Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) for a coalition in the electoral districts where the right-wing political parties are typically stronger. She also criticized the move and expressed that, if she were in Milanović place, she would have abdicated from the position of President before joining the campaign.[13] However, the two parties were unable to reach an agreement for a "spotted coalition" and have decided to have separate candidacy lists in the electoral districts that are more right leaning. Despite that, both Sandra Benčić and Arsen Bauk from SDP have expressed hope that this strategy would lead to more electoral seats as well as wish for future cooperation to remove the HDZ from the government.[14] During Benčić visit in earthquake stricken Petrinja, her speech was interrupted by a local heckler who accused her of incompetence because "she cannot lead a trade and she studied for 18 years". Benčić dismissed these charges as a typical attack from the supporters of Croatian Democratic Union and Andrej Plenković, who use these arguments instead, because of "a lack of any political sustenance".[15]

Sandra Benčić won 20,352 votes out of total 45,831 votes for the political party We can!, which secured it 3 seats in the first electoral district, and thus was elected for the second time for a member of Parliament.[16] In post-election speech, she spoke up of importance of forming a minority government so that the necessary anti-corruption reforms can be made, as well as to send the ruling party HDZ into the opposition.[17]

Private life edit

She is married to Miroslav Petrović. The couple has two sons.[18]

Her role models in politics are Ivica Račan and Sanna Marin.[5]

Benčić revealed that she regularly attends Let 3, TBF and Hladno pivo concerts.

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Sandra Benčić". mozemo.hr. We Can!. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Upravna tijela stranke". mozemo.hr. We Can!. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Možemo! za koordinatore stranke izabrao Benčić i Tomaševića". tportal.hr (in Croatian). Tportal. 18 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Sandra Benčić za Index: Evo zašto sam i kako studirala 18 godina" [Here's why and how did i study for 18 years]. index.hr (in Croatian). Index. 1 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Kandidatkinja za premijerku kojoj protivnici predbacuju neuspjeh u poduzetništvu: Uzor joj je Račan, u Hrvatsku dovela desetke milijuna eura..." [The candidate for prime minister whom her opponents accuse of failure in entrepreneurship: Račan is her role model, she brought tens of millions of euros to Croatia...]. dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). Nova TV. 27 March 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Sandra Benčić (Možemo!)". sabor.hr. Croatian Parliament. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  7. ^ admin_hbrg (16 September 2023). "Sandra Benčić za premijerku". Možemo! (in Croatian). Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  8. ^ Knežević Metelko, Katarina (6 February 2024). "Sandra Benčić zove građane da dođu stajati s njom dan i noć na Markovom trgu zbog Turudića. On hladno prošetao pored nje". Telegram (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Sandra Benčić o prosvjedu i novom šefu DORH-a: "Sve Turudićeve laži i muljanja sada su postali Plenkovićevi"". Dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  10. ^ "VELIKI PROSVJED Peović: 'Plenković gori od Hedervaryja - HDZ kvislinzi, izdajice, lopovi!'". NACIONAL.HR (in Croatian). 17 February 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Završen je prosvjed oporbe, Markov trg bio krcat. Beljak: U pakao s bandom lopovskom". www.index.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  12. ^ Rimanić, Marijana (29 March 2024). "Ovo su svi naši kandidati za Sabor u 11 izbornih jedinica". Možemo! (in Croatian). Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  13. ^ Petrak, Andrej (16 March 2024). "Benčić: Milanović? Ne remeti nam planove, u njegovoj poziciji prvo bih dala ostavku". Novi list. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Jutarnji list - Sandra Benčić potvrdila: 'Možemo! ne ide s SDP-om na izbore!'". www.jutarnji.hr (in Croatian). 22 March 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  15. ^ "Slobodna Dalmacija - Napao Sandru Benčić u Petrinji: 'Nije ovo Banija, ovo je Banovina! Niste bili u stanju voditi ni obrt...'". slobodnadalmacija.hr (in Croatian). 27 March 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  16. ^ Državno izborno povjerenstvo Republike Hrvatske, Republika Hrvatska (18 April 2024). "REZULTATI IZBORA ZASTUPNIKA U HRVATSKI SABOR PROVEDENIH 16. I 17. TRAVNJA 2024" (PDF). Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  17. ^ Pavlica, Valentina (18 April 2024). "Benčić i Tomašević: 'Ajmo sada protiv te korupcije. Sigurno se možemo dogovoriti, rušenje HDZ-a je ostvarivo'". Telegram (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  18. ^ "Tko je suprug Sandre Benčić? 'Miro me usrećuje, preuzeo je brigu o kućanstvu'". net.hr (in Croatian). RTL. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.

External links edit

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