The current president is expected to win as a result of Croatian voting in the second round for the presidency News

NATO critic Zoran Milanovic is on track to win the second round of voting, having won 49 percent of the vote in the first round.

Croatians are voting in the second round of presidential elections and incumbent Zoran Milanovic is expected to be elected for a second term, a blow to the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, which supports his challenger.

Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday and will close at around 7:00 p.m. (18:00 GMT), with exit polls expected a few minutes later.

Milanovich, who has been an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine against Russia, won 49.1 percent of the vote in the first round of the contest two weeks ago, narrowly missing out on an outright victory.

The 58-year-old leader quickly entered the race against Dragan Primorak, who managed to collect 19.35 percent of the vote. Primorac, 59, is backed by the HDZ party, which has ruled the former Yugoslav republic since it declared independence in 1991.

The election The European Union and NATO member of 3.8 million people is struggling with inflation, corruption scandals and labor shortages.

Divisive politics

Former left-wing prime minister Milanovic took the presidential post in 2020 with the support of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP) party.

Milanovich condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and at the same time criticized the West’s military support for Kiev. His main opponent called him a “pro-Russian puppet”.

He is very popular and is sometimes compared to US President-elect Donald Trump due to his combative manner with his political opponents.

The 58-year-old expert has been a vocal critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and the pair have been at loggerheads for a long time.

The current president regularly accuses Plenkovic and his conservative HDZ party of systemic corruption and calls the prime minister “a serious threat to Croatian democracy.”

Croatia’s presidential powers are limited, but a victory for Milanovic would be a setback for HDZ and Prime Minister Plenkovic.

Ceremonial position

The elected president holds political power and acts as the supreme military commander. Many believe that the presidency is the key to the political balance of power.

Primorac entered politics in the early 2000s when he was minister of science and education in the HDZ-led government. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2009 and has since focused on his academic career, including lecturing at universities in the United States, China and Croatia.

Milanovic has denied being pro-Russian, but last year blocked the deployment of five Croatian officers to NATO’s Security Assistance and Training mission to Ukraine in Germany.

He also vowed never to allow Croatian troops to be sent to Ukraine as part of any NATO mission. Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.

Milanovic accused Primorac of being in touch with “mass murderers”, referring to associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war in Gaza.