Croatia populist president reelected in landslide
ZAGREB
Croatia's President and Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate Zoran Milanovic (R) and his wife Sanja Music Milanovic (L) waves to supporters after his speech at his headquarters, in Zagreb on Jan. 12, 2025
Croatia's populist President Zoran Milanovic was reelected in a landslide, defeating his conservative rival in Jan. 12's run-off, official results showed.
Milanovic took more than 74 percent of the vote and Dragan Primorac, backed by the center-right HDZ party that governs Croatia, almost 26 percent, with nearly all the votes counted.
It was the highest score achieved by a presidential candidate since the former Yugoslav republic's independence in 1991.
While the role of the president is largely ceremonial in Croatia, Milanovic's wide victory is the latest setback for the HDZ and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Milanovic's political archrival, after a high-profile corruption affair in November.
"Croatia, thank you!," Milanovic told his supporters who gathered at a Zagreb art and music club to celebrate his success.
"I see this victory as a recognition of my work in the last five years and a plebiscite message from Croatian people to those who should hear it," he said in a reference to the HDZ-led government.
The outspoken Milanovic, backed by the left-wing opposition, won more than 49 percent of the vote in the contest's first round two weeks ago, narrowly missing an outright victory.
Turnout on Jan. 12 was nearly 44 percent, slightly lower than in the first round, the electoral commission said.