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

Zoran Milanovic, the absorption Social Democrats’ candidate, connected way to triumph a 2nd word successful office, according to preliminary results.

President Zoran Milanovic is connected way to triumph a 2nd word successful bureau successful the archetypal circular of Croatia’s statesmanlike election, the State Electoral Commission says.

Preliminary results from Sunday’s voting showed that based connected results from astir 52 percent of polling stations, Milanovic, the absorption Social Democratic Party’s candidate, was winning 50.1 percent of the votes, acold up of his main challenger, Dragan Primorac, the campaigner of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), with 22.3 percent.

An exit canvass conducted by Ipsos connected Sunday besides showed Milanovic, 58, was acceptable to win.

Zoran Milanovic [File: Darko Bandic/AP]

About 3.8 cardinal Croats were eligible to ballot from among 8 candidates. The station of president is mostly ceremonial.

Under Croatia’s electoral system, a campaigner indispensable unafraid astatine slightest 50 percent of the ballot to debar a run-off. The predetermination volition spell to a 2nd circular connected January 12 if nary of the candidates wins a majority.

During his five-year term, which expires connected February 18, Milanovic, a former premier minister, has clashed with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic implicit overseas and nationalist argumentation and has fiercely criticised the European Union and NATO implicit their enactment for Ukraine.

The president cannot veto laws but has a accidental successful overseas policy, defence and information matters.

Despite his populist rhetoric, Milanovic is seen by galore arsenic the lone counterbalance to the HDZ-dominated government, 30 of whose ministers person been forced to permission successful caller years owed to corruption allegations.

This predetermination came arsenic Croatia grapples with precocious ostentation and a labour shortage.

Milanovic antecedently won the presidency for the Social Democrats successful 2020 with promises to beforehand tolerance and wide values.

While helium has condemned Russia’s penetration of Ukraine, Milanovic has been captious of Western subject enactment for Kyiv, a stance that led Plenkovic to impeach him of being “pro-Russian” and “damaging” Croatia’s credibility.

In response, Milanovic argued that his purpose is to support Croatia from being “dragged into war”.

“As agelong arsenic I americium president, nary Croatian worker volition combat successful idiosyncratic else’s wars,” helium said this month.