The law regulating local elections in Croatia has changed recently. Most important, there will be separate elections for mayors and councils. Previously, the winning list selected the mayor from its ranks. For the first time since Croatia’s independence, it will be possible to have the mayor and the council representing different political interests. Now, this is quite likely to happen in Motovun. The Istrian Democratic Assembly may get the mayor, but not the council. Their present candidate has been in power twice already—from 2001 to 2005, and from 2005 to 2009. This time around, he is not likely to have his own rank and file dominating the council, though. Chances are the mayor and the council will not agree on much, if anything. Given that the new law is not yet tried and tested in political practice, each side will interpret its rights and duties rather differently. Lawyers will be busy, no doubt. But the emerging coalition between the Social Democrats and Greens, on the one hand, and the Independents, on the other, is likely to make the work of the council much more transparent than hitherto. Both sides appear to be very serious about local democracy. There will be many more meetings with the electorate, and information of interest to everyone will flow much more freely than ever before. This will hamper this particular mayor in an unprecedented way, for he has a penchant for doing things on his own or with a few people behind closed doors. As far as I can tell, he actually abhors large gatherings of any sort. Free flow of information makes him deeply uncomfortable, as well. Ah, I cannot suppress a smile at all these idle thoughts…