ZAGREB, Dec 30, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic will 
face conservative rival Dragan Primorac in an election run-off in two weeks' 
time after the incumbent narrowly missed out an outright victory on Sunday, 
official results showed.

The results came after an exit poll, released immediately after the polling 
stations closed, showed that Milanovic, backed by the opposition left-wing 
Social Democrats, had scooped more than 50 percent of the first round vote 
and would thus avoid the January 12 run-off.

Milanovic won 49.11 percent of the first round vote and Primorac, backed by 
the ruling conservative HDZ party, took 19.37 percent, according to results 
released by the state electoral commission from nearly all of the polling 
stations.

Such a strong lead for Milanovic, whom surveys labelled a favourite ahead of 
the vote, raises serious concerns for Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's HDZ.

The election comes as the European Union and NATO member country of 3.8 
million people struggles with biting inflation, widespread corruption and a 
labour shortage.

Among the eight contenders, centre-right MP Marija Selak Raspudic and green-
left MP Ivana Kekin followed the two main rivals, the exit poll showed. They 
each won around nine percent of the vote.

- Balance of power -

Croatia's president commands the country's armed forces and has a say in 
foreign policy.

But despite limited powers, many believe the office is key for the political 
balance of power in a country mainly governed by the HDZ since independence 
in 1991.

"All the eggs should not be in one basket," Nenad Horvat, a salesman in his 
40s, told AFP.

He sees Milanovic, a former leftist prime minister, as the "last barrier to 
all levers of power falling into the hands of HDZ", echoing the view of many 
that was reflected in Sunday's vote results.

The 58-year-old Milanovic has been one of Croatia's leading and most 
colourful political figures for nearly two decades.

Sharp and eloquent, he won the presidency for the Social Democrats (SDP) in 
2020 with pledges to advocate tolerance and liberalism.

But he used the office to attack political opponents and EU officials, often 
with offensive and populist rhetoric.

Milanovic, who condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine, has nonetheless 
criticised the West's military aid to Kyiv.

That prompted the prime minister to label him a pro-Russian who is 
"destroying Croatia's credibility in NATO and the EU".

Milanovic countered that he wanted to protect Croatia from being "dragged 
into war".

"As long as I'm president no Croatian soldier will wage somebody else's 
wars," he said this month.

Milanovic regularly pans Plenkovic and his HDZ party over systemic 
corruption, calling the premier a "serious threat to Croatia's democracy".

"I'm a guarantee of the control of the octopus of corruption... headed by 
Andrej Plenkovic," he said during the campaign.

- President-PM feud -

For many, the election is a continuation of the longstanding feud between two 
powerful politicians.

"This is still about the conflict between the prime minister and president," 
political analyst Zarko Puhovski told AFP. "All the rest are just incidental 
topics."

Primorac, a 59-year-old physician and scientist returning to politics after 
15 years, campaigned as a "unifier" promoting family values and patriotism.

"Croatia needs unity, global positioning and a peaceful life," he told 
reporters after casting his ballot in Zagreb, adding that he would later 
attend a mass.

Primorac repeatedly accused Milanovic of "disgracing Croatia", a claim that 
resonated with his supporters.