Incumbent Milanovic to win Croatia’s presidential election: Early results | News

According to preliminary results, Zoran Milanović, the candidate of the opposition Social Democrats, is on his way to winning a second mandate.

President Zoran Milanović is on his way to win a second term in the first round of presidential elections in Croatia, the State Election Commission announced.

The preliminary results of Sunday’s voting showed that Milanović, candidate of the opposition Social Democratic Party, won 50.1 percent of the votes, far ahead of the main opponent Dragan Primorc, the candidate of the ruling party, based on the results with almost 52 percent of polling stations. Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) with 22.3 percent.

An exit poll conducted by Ipsos on Sunday also showed that Milanović (58) will win.

Of the eight candidates, about 3.8 million Croats had the right to vote. The position of president is mostly ceremonial.

According to the Croatian electoral system, a candidate must secure at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second round. The election will go to a second round on January 12 if none of the candidates wins a majority.

During his five-year mandate, which expires on February 18, Milanović, a former prime ministerclashed with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković over foreign and public policy and severely criticized the European Union and NATO for supporting Ukraine.

The president cannot veto laws, but he has the right to vote in matters of foreign policy, defense and security.

Despite his populist rhetoric, Milanović is seen by many as the only counterweight to the HDZ-dominated government, whose 30 ministers have been forced to leave in recent years due to accusations of corruption.

These elections came at a time when Croatia is struggling with high inflation and a labor shortage.

Milanović previously won the presidential election for the Social Democrats in 2020 with promises to promote tolerance and liberal values.

Although he condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Milanović was critical of Western military support for Kiev, a view that led Plenković to accuse him of being “pro-Russian” and “damaging” Croatia’s credibility.

In his reply, Milanović asserted that his goal was to protect Croatia from being “drawn into war”.

“As long as I am president, not a single Croatian soldier will fight in other people’s wars,” he said this month.