(di Franko Dota)
Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic
will face conservative rival Dragan Primorac in an election
run-off in two weeks' time after the incumbent narrowly missed
out an outright victory on Sunday, official results showed. The
results came after an exit poll, released immediately after the
polling stations closed, showed that Milanovic, backed by the
opposition left-wing Social Democrats, had scooped more than 50
percent of the first round vote and would thus avoid the January
12 run-off. Milanovic won 49.1 percent of the first round vote
and Primorac, backed by the ruling conservative HDZ party, took
19.35 percent, according to results released by the state
electoral commission from nearly all of the polling stations. On
Sunday evening, Milanovic pledged to his supporters who gathered
in Zagreb to "fight for Croatia with a clear stance, one that
takes care of its interests". Such a strong lead for Milanovic,
whom surveys labelled a favourite ahead of the vote, raises
serious concerns for Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's HDZ. Late
on Sunday, Primorac labelled the big difference between him and
Milanovic a "challenge". "In the first round there were... a lot
of candidates, it was not easy to present the programme fully.
Now it's a great opportunity that Milanovic and I be one on
one... to see who represents what," Primorac told his supporters
in Zagreb. The election came as the European Union and NATO
member country of 3.8 million people struggles with biting
inflation, widespread corruption and a labour shortage. Among
the eight contenders, centre-right MP Marija Selak Raspudic and
green-left MP Ivana Kekin followed the two main rivals, the exit
poll showed. The two women each won around nine percent of the
vote. - 'Serious threat to Croatia's democracy' - The president
commands the Balkan country's armed forces and has a say in
foreign policy. But despite limited powers, many believe the
office is key for the political balance of power in a country
mainly governed by the HDZ since independence in 1991. "All the
eggs should not be in one basket," Nenad Horvat, a salesman in
his 40s, told AFP. He sees Milanovic, a former leftist prime
minister, as the "last barrier to all levers of power falling
into the hands of HDZ", echoing the view of many that was
reflected in Sunday's vote results. The 58-year-old Milanovic
has been one of Croatia's leading and most colourful political
figures for nearly two decades. Sharp and eloquent, he won the
presidency for the Social Democrats (SDP) in 2020 with pledges
to advocate tolerance and liberalism. But he used the office to
attack political opponents and EU officials, often with
offensive and populist rhetoric. Milanovic, who condemned
Russia's aggression against Ukraine, has nonetheless criticised
the West's military aid to Kyiv. That prompted the prime
minister to label him a pro-Russian who is "destroying Croatia's
credibility in NATO and the EU". Milanovic countered that he
wanted to protect Croatia from being "dragged into war".
Milanovic regularly pans Plenkovic and his HDZ party over
systemic corruption, calling the premier a "serious threat to
Croatia's democracy". Speaking on Sunday, Milanovic said that in
the current global situation, all political stakeholders in the
country should be "on the same side as much as possible, at
least when it comes to fundamental issues such as the national
security or borders". - President-PM feud - For many, the
election is a continuation of the longstanding feud between two
powerful politicians. "This is still about the conflict between
the prime minister and president," political analyst Zarko
Puhovski told AFP. "All the rest are just incidental topics."
Primorac, a 59-year-old physician and scientist returning to
politics after 15 years, campaigned as a "unifier" promoting
family values and patriotism. ljv/bc
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