ZAGREB: Croatia’s conservative head of state — trying to unite a fractured right wing — faced a serious challenge from a leftist former prime minister as the country went to the polls on Sunday in a presidential election.
Some 3.8 million people are eligible to vote in a poll that is being held just days after Croatia took over the European Union’s helm for a six-month period, which will be dominated by Brexit and the bloc’s enlargement.
At the same time, the EU’s newest member is struggling with a mass exodus of its people, corruption and a lacklustre economy at home.
Centre-right incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is campaigning on a slogan promoting “real Croatia”, hinting she believes the ruling HDZ party are the only ones who can truly represent the country.
Her rival Zoran Milanovic, a former Social Democratic premier, has labeled such statements as “very dangerous”, and wants to see a liberal democratic country where it is “normal that the wars are over” and which promotes equality for all citizens.
The outcome of the vote for the largely ceremonial post is uncertain, with the latest survey by Ipsos agency giving Milanovic a three-percentage-point lead over Grabar-Kitarovic.
“Let’s build together a more prosperous Croatia... that will look forward not backwards,” the country’s first female president said after voting in Zagreb.
Grabar-Kitarovic, backed by the ruling HDZ party, will have to lure back hardliners who voted for a nationalist folk singer in the election’s first round in December. Dominating in cities, Milanovic led the first round with around a third of the vote, thanks in part to that split among the right-wingers. Analysts said the first-round results showed an increase in support for hardliners, a trend seen in other European countries such as Poland or Hungary. — AFP
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