In a run-off election for president in Croatia, incumbent Zoran Milanovic is expected to succeed his rival, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, in which he is supporting.
Polling stations opened on Sunday at 7am local time (06: 00 GMT) and would close at about 7pm (18: 00 GMT), with exit polls expected minutes later.
Milanovic, an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine against Russia, won 49.1 percent of the vote during the contest’s first round two weeks ago – narrowly missing an outright victory.
The 58-year-old leader faced off against Dragan Primorac, who won 19.35 percent of the votes in the contest. Primorac, 59, is backed by the HDZ party, which has governed the former Yugoslav republic since declaring independence in 1991.
The election comes as the 3.8 million-strong European Union and NATO member nation struggles with shit-inflation, corruption scandals, and labor shortage.
Divisive politics
Milanovic, a former left-wing prime minister, took over the presidency in 2020 with the backing of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP) party.
Milanovic has criticised the West’s military support for Kyiv in addition to condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His main rival has dubbed him “a pro-Russian puppet”.
He has a very popular following, and he occasionally receives comparisons to Donald Trump, the president-elect, for his aggressive communication with political opponents.
The pair have long had verbal fights with one another and the 58-year-old has fiercely criticized the current prime minister.
Plenkovic and his moderate HDZ party are frequently accused of systemic corruption by the incumbent president, who has described the prime minister as a “serious threat to Croatia’s democracy.”
Croatia’s presidential powers are limited, but a win by Milanovic would be a setback for the HDZ and Prime Minister Plenkovic.
Ceremonial position
The supreme military commander is an elected president who has political authority. Many people think the presidential position determines the political balance of power.
Primorac was the minister of science and education under the HDZ-led government when he first entered politics in the early 2000s. After unsuccessfully attempting to win the presidency in 2009, he primarily focused on his academic career, which included lecturing at US, Chinese, and Croatian universities.
Milanovic denied being pro-Russian, but he last year prevented the dispatch of five Croatian officers to the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine mission in Germany.
He added that he would never permit NATO to send Croatian soldiers to Ukraine. There isn’t such a proposal, according to Plenkovic and his government.
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