ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia’s opposition-backed President Zoran Milanovic, a critic of the European Union and NATO, defeated a candidate from the ruling Conservative Party in a runoff election Sunday, winning re-election with an overwhelming majority and seeking further He aimed for a five-year term. -Full official results shown.
According to results announced by the Croatian state election authorities after more than 70% of the votes were counted, Milanovic received nearly 74% of the vote, while his opponent Dragan Primorac received around 26%.
The result was a major boost for Milanovich, who has criticized Western military aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Read more: Croatian President Zoran Milanovic criticizes tank shipment to Ukraine
Milanovic, 58, 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.
His victory also sets the stage for continued conflict with Croatia’s powerful Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. The sparring between the two sides during Milanovic’s first term became a defining feature of Croatian politics.
Mr. Milanovic won comfortably in the first round on December 29, with a wide lead over Mr. Primorac, a forensic scientist who had previously failed to run for president, and six other candidates.
Milanovic fell short of securing 50% of the vote by just 5,000 votes, and Primorac fell far behind with 19%, necessitating a run-off between the top two 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.
“I want to win,” Milanovic said after Sunday’s vote. “I believe in winning because I think I’m worth it and it’s important. Mainly because it’s important.”
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.”
“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.”
Milanovic has served as prime minister in the past, but his career has been mixed.
Mr Milanovic regularly accuses Mr Plenković and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union of systemic corruption, but Mr Plenković describes Mr Milanovic as a “pro-Russian” figure who threatens Croatia’s international standing. I have decided that.
Political analyst Viseslav Lao said the increasingly outspoken Milanovic had no motive to “try to please anyone or try to control himself.”
“If we didn’t work with the prime minister in the first five years[of his presidency]why do we need to work with him now?” he said.
Although the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, the elected president has political powers and acts as commander-in-chief of the military.
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.
Despite his limited powers, many say the president’s position is key to the political balance of power in the country, which has largely been 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.
Associated Press writers Dušan Stojanovic and Giovana Göc in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.
