The incumbent is expected to win as Croatians vote in the presidential runoff | news

Zoran Milanovic, a critic of NATO, is on track to win the runoff after receiving 49% of the votes in the first round.

Croatians are casting their votes in a runoff in the presidential elections, where incumbent President Zoran Milanovic is expected to win a second term in office, in what could represent a blow to the ruling Croatian Democratic Union party, which supports his rival.

Polling stations opened their doors on Sunday at seven in the morning local time (06:00 GMT) and will close at approximately seven in the evening (18:00 GMT), and opinion polls are expected to be conducted within minutes.

Milanovic, an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine against Russia, won 49.1% of the vote during the first round of elections two weeks ago, narrowly missing the chance to achieve direct victory.

The 58-year-old leader entered the competition with increasing momentum when he faced Dragan Primorac, who managed to obtain 19.35 percent of the votes. Primorac (59 years old) enjoys the support of the Croatian Democratic Union Party, which has ruled the former Yugoslav republic since it declared its independence in 1991.

the election This comes at a time when the European Union and NATO member state with a population of 3.8 million suffers from severe inflation, corruption scandals and labor shortages.

Politics of division

Milanovic, a former left-wing prime minister, assumed the presidency in 2020 with the support of the main opposition Social Democratic Party.

Milanovic condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine but also criticized Western military support for Kiev. His main rival has described him as a “pro-Russian puppet”.

He is very popular and is sometimes compared to United States President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style of communicating with political opponents.

The 58-year-old has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and the two have long quarreled with each other.

Current President Plenkovic and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party regularly accuse him of systematic corruption, describing the prime minister as a “dangerous threat to Croatian democracy.”

Croatia’s presidential powers are limited, but a Milanovic victory would be a setback for the HDZ and Prime Minister Plenkovic.

Festive attitude

The elected president holds political power and acts as the supreme military commander. Many believe that the presidential office is key to the balance of political power.

Primorac entered politics in the early 2000s when he was Minister of Science and Education in the Croatian Democratic Union-led government. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2009, after which he focused primarily on his academic career, including lecturing at universities in the United States, China, and Croatia.

Milanovic has denied being pro-Russian but last year prevented the sending of five Croatian officers to a NATO mission in Germany called Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.

He also pledged that he would never agree to send Croatian soldiers as part of any NATO mission to Ukraine. Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.

Milanović accused Primorac of links to “mass killers,” referring to associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war in Gaza.