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, 2015, 2016, and 2020 parliamentary elections. Personal life 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 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 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