AFP – Croatia’s President Zoran Milanovic will face conservative rival Dragan Primorac in an election run-off in two weeks’ time after the incumbent narrowly missed out an outright victory during the weekend, official results showed.
The results came after an exit poll, released immediately after the polling stations closed, showed that Milanovic, backed by the opposition left-wing Social Democrats, had scooped more than 50 per cent of the first round vote and would thus avoid the January 12 run-off.
Milanovic won 49.1 per cent of the first round vote and Primorac, backed by the ruling conservative HDZ party, took 19.35 per cent, according to results released by the state electoral commission from nearly all of the polling stations.
On Sunday evening, Milanovic pledged to his supporters who gathered in Zagreb to “fight for Croatia with a clear stance, one that takes care of its interests”.
Such a strong lead for Milanovic, whom surveys labelled a favourite ahead of the vote, raises serious concerns for Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s HDZ.
Late on Sunday, Primorac labelled the big difference between him and Milanovic a “challenge”.
“In the first round there were… a lot of candidates, it was not easy to present the programme fully. Now it’s a great opportunity that Milanovic and I be one on one… to see who represents what,” Primorac told his supporters in Zagreb.
Among the eight contenders, centre-right member of Parliament (MP) Marija Selak Raspudic and green-left MP Ivana Kekin followed the two main rivals, the exit poll showed.
The two women each won around nine per cent of the vote.
