Following the last local elections in 2001, Milan Bandić of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) had been re-elected as the mayor of Zagreb.

In 2002, an incident made him resign in favor of Deputy Mayor Vlasta Pavić, also from the SDP.

The elections mainly pitted two former mayors, Bandić of the SDP and Marina Matulović Dropulić of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Due to this breakup, the HNS ran together with the Liberal Party (LS), with Pusić as the list holder.

The SDP–HSS–HSU coalition, led by incumbent Mayor Milan Bandić, won 41% of the vote and 25 out of 51 seats in the Zagreb Assembly.