Incumbent Milanovic elected as Croatia's president

Croatia's incumbent President Zoran Milanovic was re-elected in a landslide, defeating his conservative rival in a run-off, official results showed. (Photo/AFP)

Croatia's incumbent President Zoran Milanovic was re-elected in a landslide, defeating his conservative rival in a run-off, official results showed.

Milanovic took over 74 percent of the vote on Sunday and Dragan Primorac, backed by the centre-right HDZ party that governs Croatia, nearly 26 percent, with more than 90 percent of the votes counted.

While the role of the president is largely ceremonial in Croatia, Milanovic's wide victory is the latest setback for the HDZ and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic Milanovic's political arch-rival after a high-profile corruption affair in November.

Turnout Sunday was nearly 44 percent, slightly lower than in the first round, the electoral commission said.

The vote was held as the European Union member nation of 3.8 million people struggles with the highest inflation rate in the eurozone, endemic corruption and a labour shortage.

Even with its limited roles, many Croatians see the presidency as key to providing a political balance by preventing one party from holding all the levers of power.

'A political omnivore'

The former Yugoslav republic has been mainly governed by the HDZ since declaring independence in 1991.

Milanovic, a former left-wing prime minister, won the presidency in 2020 with the backing of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP) party.

A key figure in the country's political scene for nearly two decades, he has increasingly employed offensive, populist rhetoric during frequent attacks aimed at EU and local officials.

"Milanovic is a sort of a political omnivore," political analyst Zarko Puhovski told AFP, saying the president was largely seen as the "only, at least symbolic, counterbalance to the government and Plenkovic's power".

On Sunday, after voting in Zagreb and voicing confidence in victory, Milanovic criticised Brussels as "in many ways autocratic and non-representative," run by unelected officials.

The 58-year-old also regularly pans the HDZ over the party's perennial problems with corruption.

"Croatia has been and will always remain my number one priority."

Milanovic condemned the Russia-Ukraine war but has also criticised the West's military support for Kiev.

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Source: TRT