ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – Croatia’s incumbent President Zoran Milanovic faced a candidate from the ruling Conservative Party in Sunday’s presidential runoff election, making him the overwhelming favorite for re-election.
The left-wing Milanovic won comfortably in the first round on Dec. 29, defeating his main challenger, Dragan Primorak, a forensic scientist who previously ran unsuccessfully for president, and six other candidates. was significantly separated.
After the vote, Milanovic said, “I hope to win.” “I believe in winning because I think I’m worth it and it’s important. Mainly because it’s important.”
Mr. Milanovic fell short of securing 50% of the vote by just 5,000 votes, and Mr. Primorac was far behind with 19%, necessitating a run-off between the two leading candidates.
The election came as the European Union and NATO member state of 3.8 million people struggles with rampant inflation, corruption scandals and labor shortages.
Milanovic, 58, Outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine In the war with Russia. He is Croatia’s most popular politician and has been compared to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his combative communication style with political opponents.
On Sunday, he renewed his criticism of the city of Brussels, saying it is “undemocratic in many respects” and run by unelected officials. Milanovic said the EU’s position that “if you don’t think the same way as me, you are the enemy” amounted to “psychological violence.”
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“That’s not the modern Europe I want to live and work in,” he said. “As president of a small country, I will do everything I can to change this situation.”
Mr. Milanovic served as prime minister. There have been various records in the past. He has been a fierce critic of the current prime minister. Andrei Plenkovic And the two have been sparring for a long time.
Mr Milanovic regularly accuses Mr Plenković and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union of systemic corruption, but Mr Plenković has described Mr Milanovic as “pro-Russian” and a threat to Croatia’s international standing. I’m calling.
Primorak reiterated this position when voting on Sunday. He said the presidential vote was “very important” and “about the future of Croatia, … the future of our homeland, the future of our people and really where we go from here.”
Political analyst Viseslav Laos said the increasingly outspoken Milanovic had no motive to “try to please anyone or try to control himself.”
“If there was no cooperation with the prime minister in the first five years[of his presidency]why now?” he added.
Although the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, the elected president has political powers and acts as commander-in-chief of the military.
Despite his limited powers, many say the president’s position is key to the political balance of power in the country, which has been largely ruled by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) since independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. is thinking.
Primorak, 59, entered politics in the early 2000s as science and education minister in the HDZ-led government. He ran for president in 2009 but lost, and since then he has focused on his studies, teaching at universities in the United States, China, and Croatia.
Milanovic has denied being pro-Russian, but last year he blocked Germany from sending five Croatian officers to a NATO mission called Security Assistance and Training to Ukraine. He also vowed never to approve sending Croatian soldiers to Ukraine as part of a NATO mission. Plenković and the government say no such proposal exists.
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Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Göc in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.
