ZAGREB (Reuters) -Incumbent president Zoran Milanovic, the opposition Socialist Democrats’ candidate, was on track to win a second term of office in the first round of Croatia’s presidential election on Sunday, the State Electoral Commission said.
Preliminary results showed that based on results from nearly 52% of polling stations Milanovic had won 50.1% support, far ahead of his main challenger Dragan Primorac – the candidate of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) – on 22.3%.
Around 3.8 million Croats were eligible to vote, choosing from eight candidates ranging from across the political spectrum. The post of president is mostly ceremonial.
The election will go to a second round on Jan. 12 if none of the candidates wins a majority.
During his five-year term which expires on Feb. 18, Milanovic, a former prime minister, has clashed with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic over foreign and public policy and has fiercely criticised the European Union and NATO over their support for Ukraine.
The president cannot veto laws, but has a say in foreign policy, defence and security matters.
Despite his populist rhetoric, Milanovic is seen by many as the only counterbalance to the HDZ-dominated government, which has seen 30 ministers forced to leave in recent years amid allegations of corrupt practices.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic, Fedja Grulovic and Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Sharon Singleton and David Holmes)
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