Croatia President Milanovic wins another term after defeating ruling party candidate in runoff

Zagreb, Jan 13 (AP) 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, defeating a candidate from the ruling conservative party in a runoff vote, near-complete official results showed.
    Milanovic won nearly 74 per cent of the vote compared to his challenger Dragan Primorac, who gained around 26 per cent, according to the results released by Croatia's state election authorities after more than 70 per cent of the ballots were counted.
    The result presents a major boost for Milanovic, who is a critic of Western military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
    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 Milanovic's first term in office has marked Croatia's politics.
    Milanovic had comfortably won also in the first round of voting on December 29, leaving Primorac, a forensic scientist who had unsuccessfully run for president previously, and six other candidates far behind.
    The runoff between the top two contenders was necessary because Milanovic fell short of securing 50 per cent of the vote by just 5,000 votes, while Primorac trailed far behind with 19 per cent.
    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," Milanovic said after voting 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", 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."
    Milanovic served as prime minister in the past with a mixed record.
    Milanovic regularly accuses Plenkovic and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union party of systemic corruption, while Plenkovic has labelled Milanovic "pro-Russian" and a threat to Croatia's international standing.
    Political analyst Viseslav Raos said the increasingly outspoken Milanovic has no motive to "try to please someone or try to control himself".
    "If there was no cooperation with the prime minister for the first five years (of his presidency), why would there be now?" he said.
    Though the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, an elected president holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander.
    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. Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.
    Despite limited powers, many believe the presidential position is key for the political balance of power in a country mainly governed by the Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
    Primorac (59) entered politics in the early 2000s, when he was science and education minister in the HDZ-led government. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2009, and after that mainly focused on his academic career including lecturing at universities in the US, China and in Croatia. (AP) SZM

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)