Outgoing president Zoran Milanovic was re-elected to office today, comfortably, in a blow to the conservative, ruling HDZ party.
Voter turnout in Croatia’s presidential election reached 44%
Milanović, who comes from the Social Democratic Party, got 74.58% in the second round of the presidential election. Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) candidate Dragan Primorac receives 25.42%, with 98.65% of votes counted.
The participation rate reached 44%, according to the electoral commission.
See related post about the election results in Croatia:
The current president Zoran Milanović won 74.88 percent of the votes, and Dragan Primorac 25.32 percent of the votes, according to SEC results based on 99.66 percent of processed polling stations.
— HINA (@Agencija_HINA)
The result is seen as a severe blow to the HDZ and Prime Minister Andrii Plenkovic, Milanovic’s perennial political rival, following a corruption scandal that was widely reported in the press in November.
Although the president has only limited powers, Croats see him as a guarantor of the proper functioning of institutions.
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🇭🇷, presidential election results (2nd round):
President Milanović (≈SDP) secured a landslide victory tonight, winning nearly 75 % of the votes.
This is the largest voteshare ever received by a candidate in Croatian history.
— World Elects (@ElectsWorld)
In his victory speech, Milanovic promised to uphold the Constitution but warned that “those who want to hoard everything for themselves” got a message from voters.
He vowed to continue to exercise the military and foreign policy powers granted to him by the presidency, acknowledging that “this requires cooperation.”
It is noted that Milovanovic is used to making pro-Russian and anti-Western statements, which is in contrast to the fact that he oversaw Croatia’s accession to the EU in 2013 as prime minister.
