On Sunday, Croatians will elect a president in the second round of elections. Current president Zoran Milanović, nicknamed “Croatian Trump”, and Dragan Primorac, supported by the ruling camp, will fight for the office of head of state.
In the first round, Milanović obtained 49.11 percent. votes, and Primorac – 19.37 percent. Friday was the last day of the campaign. Voting lasts from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The election silence will also last until 7 p.m., when the first exit poll results.
“Croatian Trump”
58-year-old Zoran Milanović is the president Croatia from 2020, in 2011-2016 he was its prime minister. He graduated in law and gained professional experience working in Brussels – at the EU and NATO. In 2007, he entered the Croatian parliament for the first time.
During his prime ministership, Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. After losing the position of prime minister in 2016, he resigned from politics and became a legal adviser. After returning to the political scene in 2019, he won the presidential elections, defeating the then head of state Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović from the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) in the second round and becoming the fifth president of Croatia.
Milanović then presented himself as a modern and progressive candidate. During his presidency, he often used populist and pro-Kremlin rhetoric.
Zoran Milanovic's election posterPAP/EPA/ANTONIO BAT
At the end of 2024, he opposed the participation of Croatian soldiers in the NATO NSATU mission, which was to coordinate arms supplies to Ukraineand also train Ukrainian soldiers. – From 2014 to 2022, we observed someone constantly provoking Russiafor a war to break out. And the war broke out, Milanović said, commenting on the start of the Russian invasion. He previously said that “NATO and the US are conducting a proxy war in Ukraine” and training Ukrainian soldiers “means participation in the war.”
His critical statements towards NATO and the EU have spawned comparisons with Donald Trump – noted the Politico website. In his speech after the first round of elections, in which he won 49 percent. votes, Milanović announced the fight for a Croatia that “takes matters into its own hands and remembers that only Croatians really care about what is happening in their country.”
President Milanović regularly criticizes the government of Andrej Plenkovic for alleged corruption and abuse of power. He called Prime Minister Plenkovic “Ursula von der Leyen's errand boy” and his rival Primorc – an “illiterate” who is “promoted by lobbyists from Brussels.”
The last one polls before the second round of elections, they gave him from 62 to 69 percent. support.
“The Prime Minister's Man”
Supported by HDZ, 59-year-old Dragan Primorac completed his studies and obtained a PhD at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb. He is a specialist in pediatrics and medical genetics, a court expert and a lecturer at domestic and foreign universities.
The politician has been associated with HDZ for years. In the period 2003-09, he was Minister of Education in two center-right governments of Ivo Sanader. In 2007, citizens considered him the best member of the government with the support of 31 percent. In 2009, he ran for president as an independent candidate, receiving less than 6 percent. votes.
Dragan Primorac's election posterPAP/EPA/ANTONIO BAT
Commentators note that before the second round, the politician changed his rhetoric from conciliatory to more aggressive and decisive, intended to mobilize the right-wing electorate. Experts involved in the Croatian political scene estimate that his victory would harmonize the policy and position of the president's office with the actions of Plenkovic's government, which has supported Ukraine since the beginning of the aggression and seeks the participation of the Croatian army in the training of its soldiers.
During the campaign, Primorac himself called for investing in Croatian defense and “preparing for every possible scenario.” He described Milanovic's position towards the NSATU mission as “scaring citizens.” Prime Minister Plenković said – accusing Milanovic once again of a pro-Kremlin attitude – that the difference between the candidates is that “Milanovic is pulling us to the East, and Primorac is pulling us to the West.”
Polls give him between 29 and 31 percent. support in Sunday's second round of elections.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/ANTONIO BAT