Croatia's President Milanović secures second term
Incumbent Zoran Milanović has won a second term as Croatia's president in the runoff vote on Sunday. He secured more than 74 percent of the vote, easily beating former minister Dragan Primorac, who was supported by the conservative ruling party HDZ. Milanović comes from the Social Democratic Party. He was prime minister from 2011 to 2016 and has held the office of head of state since 2020.
His directness goes down well
Večer explains why Milanović won so convincingly:
“He doesn't mince his words, and he often doesn't behave like a statesman. ... Milanović is certainly not a pro-Russian politician. He very likely has no connection to the Kremlin whatsoever. He just dares to say what others don't. He didn't hesitate to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a murderer. He said that Kosovo was taken from Serbia. ... With his daily criticism of Plenković's government and his mild Euroscepticism, he has won the sympathy not only of the left, but also of the right. Milanović spares no one.”
A fierce critic of his own caste
Milanović is only seemingly an anti-establishment politician, writes wPolityce.pl:
“As everywhere in Europe, voters in Croatia are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with a political establishment that is moving further and further away from the lives of ordinary people. Only in Croatia, however, is a typical representative of this very same establishment benefiting from this dissatisfaction. Because that's precisely what Zoran Milanović, a former member of the Communist Party, politically and intellectually moulded in an environment from which he has never broken away, is. All experts agree that, as prime minister, he was one of the worst heads of government in the history of free Croatia. However, Milanović made up for his inability to govern with political dexterity and demagoguery.”
More powerful and more fractious
Zoran Milanović is now politically stronger than ever despite all his flaws, Večernji list observes:
“Croatia will continue to be represented by a president who interprets its constitution as he sees fit, who will continue to quarrel with the prime minister and the government instead of guaranteeing the stability of state power, who will continue to promote a culture of violence with verbal tirades and insults, who is against arming the military and who will confuse Croatia's allies in Nato and other Euro-Atlantic alliances in these turbulent times. So at first glance it looks like everything will remain as before, but there has been one change: an even more powerful and fractious Milanović will head the presidential office as of today.”
The Croatians want him and that's that
Nothing could prevent Milanović's resounding victory, Dnevnik comments:
“This was clear even before the election. The HDZ didn't want to risk sending a political heavyweight into the fray, and instead preferred to field the little-known candidate Primorac. The fact that he spent many times more than Milanović spent on his campaign budget and tried to retain his dignity couldn't make up for his lack of political experience. Even last Friday's reports about Russian bots influencing the vote in Milanović's favour looked like another hopelessly weak last-minute attempt to sway the election outcome. ... The Croatians have voted and elected the president they want.”
Cooperation more crucial than ever
Better relations between President Milanović and Prime Minister Plenković are a priority now, says Jutarnji list:
“The relationship between the president of the Republic and the prime minister will remain as it has been for the last five years, i.e. tense, fractious, uncooperative and useless. And this realisation is worrying. ... Milanović and Plenković have remained the same, but the world we live in is no longer the same. It has changed a lot and we can no longer predict what tomorrow will bring. Our country is led by people who are unable to forget their egos and put aside their mutual dislike until they have performed at least a minimum of their joint duties.”
Brace for the next populist
The Süddeutsche Zeitung is concerned:
“The attempts by his political opponents to portray him as a Kremlin puppet have clearly not only not harmed Milanović but secured him a wave of defiant approval. By rejecting military aid for Ukraine, he has clearly struck a nerve. How close he really is to Putin is debatable; what is clear is that Milanović is not only attacking the ruling party in his own country, but also state institutions. ... It is no secret that he is still seeking the office of head of government. The rest of the EU should brace itself for the possibility of another populist launching an attack on long-held liberal democratic certainties in the Balkans.”