Incumbent Milanovic secures overwhelming victory in presidential run-off

Croatia’s opposition-backed President Zoran Milanovic, a critic of the European Union and Nato, overwhelmingly won re-election for another five-year term on Sunday.

He defeated a candidate from the ruling conservative party in a run-off vote, near-complete official results showed.

Mr Milanovic won nearly 74% of the vote compared to his challenger, Dragan Primorac, who gained about 26%, according to the results released by Croatia’s state election authorities after more than 70% of the ballots were counted.

The result presents a major boost for Mr Milanovic, who is a critic of Western military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

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In a speech after the results were released, Mr Milanovic said his victory was a sign of approval and trust from the voters but also presented a message “about the state of affairs in the country for those who need to hear it”.

“I am asking them (the government) to hear it,” he said. “that is what the citizens wanted to say. This is not just support for me.”

Mr Milanovic, 58, is the most popular politician in Croatia, and is sometimes compared to US President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents.

His triumph also sets the stage for a continued confrontation with Croatia’s powerful Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic. Sparring between the two during Mr Milanovic’s first term in office has marked Croatia’s politics.

Mr Milanovic had comfortably won also in the first round of voting on December 29, leaving Mr Primorac, a forensic scientist who had unsuccessfully run for president previously, and six other candidates far behind.

The run-off between the top two contenders was necessary because Mr Milanovic fell short of securing 50% of the vote by just 5,000 votes, while Mr Primorac trailed far behind with 19%.

The election was held as the European Union and Nato member country of 3.8 million people struggles with biting inflation, corruption scandals and a labour shortage.

“I am hoping for a victory,” Mr Milanovic said after voting on Sunday. “I believe in victory because I think I am worth it and because it is important, primarily because it is important.”

On Sunday, he again criticised Brussels as “in many ways non-democratic” and run by unelected officials.

The EU position that “if you don’t think the same as I do, then you’re the enemy” amounts to “mental violence”, Mr Milanovic said.

“That’s not the modern Europe I want to live and work in,” he said. “I will work on changing it, as much as I can as the president of a small nation.”

Mr Milanovic served as prime minister in the past with a mixed record.

He regularly accuses Mr Plenkovic and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union party of systemic corruption, while Mr Plenkovic has labelled Mr Milanovic “pro-Russian” and a threat to Croatia’s international standing.

Mr Milanovic denied he is pro-Russian but, last year, he blocked the dispatch of five Croatian officers to Nato’s mission in Germany called Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.

He also pledged he would never approve sending Croatian soldiers as part of any Nato mission to Ukraine. Mr Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.