(12 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Zagreb, Croatia – 12 January 2025
1. Wide of election official preparing for opening of polls
2. Voters registering for vote
3. Man casting ballot
4. Various of people casting ballots
5. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Bozica (no last name given) pensioner from Zagreb:
"My expectation is that the better candidate would win. And we all know who that is. I won’t say which one, we’ll see.”
6. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Vlado Cvitkovic, retired taxi driver:
"I have my favorite. It’s the old [incumbent] one. I believe everything will be fine.”
7. Man casting ballot
8. Woman casting ballot
STORYLINE:
Polls opened on Sunday morning in Croatia’s presidential election runoff, with incumbent President Zoran Milanovic an overwhelming favorite to win.
Croatia’s left-leaning president, an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, is running for his second five-year term against conservative challenger Dragan Primorac.
In the first round, held on Dec. 29, Milanovic won 49% of the vote, falling short of half the vote needed for an outright win.
Primorac, candidate of the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, trailed far behind with 19% percent.
None of the other six candidates reached double digits.
The most popular politician in Croatia, 58-year-old Milanovic has served as prime minister in the past.
Populist in style, he has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and continuous sparring between the two has marked Croatia’s political scene over the past several years.
Milanovic has criticized the NATO and European Union support for Ukraine and has often insisted that Croatia should not take sides.
He has said Croatia should stay away from global disputes, though it is a member of both NATO and the EU.
Though the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, an elected president holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander.
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 United States, China and in Croatia.
Although he has little political experience, he is backed by the ruling conservatives of Prime Minister Plenkovic.
Croatia has around 3.5 million eligible voters.
The turnout in the first round was 46%, the lowest in any presidential election since 2009.
Polls close at 18:00 GMT, first results are expected around 20:00 GMT.
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