Incumbent Croatian President Zoran Milanovic won a second term in Sunday’s presidential election, securing over 1.1 million votes in the second round run-off – around 75 per cent of the total,
Balkan Insight reports.
Milanovic soundly defeated the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ candidate, Dragan Primorac, who garnered just over 380,000 votes, around 25 per cent. Turnout was around 44 per cent.
The outspoken Milanovic, supported by the centre-left Social Democratic Party, SDP, the strongest opposition party, will now serve a second five-year term as president.
In his victory speech, he thanked voters inside and outside the country.
“Croatia, thank you! Thank you, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thank you to all Croats in the world,” Milanovic said, despite receiving fewer votes than Primorac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the only place where his opponent managed to surpass him.
In a swipe at his major political rival, HDZ leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Milanovic added: “Please give a big round of applause to the HDZ members who voted for me!”
His first term saw repeated tussles with Prime Minister Plenkovic. The election campaign was also marked by harsh words and insults. Milanovic said on Sunday night that he will not “put public pressure on the prime minister, but we will have to talk”.
The powers of the president in Croatia are limited; according to the constitution, he or she oversees foreign policy together with the prime minister and is supreme commander of the armed forces. These two areas have been a constant source of conflict between Milanovic and Plenkovic.
