Croatia's Milanovic will face a runoff challenger in next month's election | Election news

The incumbent president narrowly missed outright victory, securing 49.1% of the vote, while his rival Primorac collected 19.35%.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic will face his conservative rival Dragan Primorac in a runoff election in two weeks.

Official results show the incumbent failed to win an outright victory in Sunday's vote.

The results followed exit pole published just after the polls closed, showing that Milanovic, backed by the opposition left-wing Social Democrats, had secured more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, potentially avoiding a January 12 runoff.

Milanovic won 49.1 percent of the vote in the first round. Primorac, backed by the ruling conservative CDU party, took 19.35 percent, according to results released by the state election commission from almost all polling stations.

On Sunday evening, Milanovic promised his supporters who gathered in Zagreb to “fight for Croatia with a clear position that looks after its own interests”.

Such a strong lead for Milanović, who polls pegged as the favorite before the vote, raises serious concerns for Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's CDU.

“Although Milanović declares himself to be left-wing and comes from the Social Democratic Party, he has been a fierce critic of the Plenković government and Plenković himself, accusing it of corruption and also criticizing the Croatian government for being too obedient to Brussels and EU demands ” said Al Jazeera's Tanja Novak, reporting from Zagreb.

“That position also made him favorable to voters on the right spectrum, and as tonight's votes show, he was able to win many of them over to his side,” she added.

Late on Sunday, Primorac called the wide gap between him and Milanovic a “challenge”.

“In the first round there were… many candidates, it was not easy to present the program in full. Now is a great opportunity for Milanovic and I to be one on one … to see who represents what,” Primorac told his supporters in Zagreb.

The election came as the European Union and NATO member country of 3.8 million people grapples with high inflation, widespread corruption and labor shortages.

Among the eight contenders, center-right MP Maria Selak Raspudic and green-leftist Ivana Kekin followed the two main rivals, the exit poll showed. The two women each won about 9 percent of the vote.

“Croatia's Trump”

The president cannot veto laws, but has a say in matters of foreign policy, defense and security.

Despite his populist rhetoric, Milanovic is seen by many as the only counterweight to the CDU-dominated government, 30 of whose ministers have been forced out in recent years due to allegations of corruption.

Prime Minister Plenkovic tried to present the vote as a vote for Croatia's future in the EU and NATO. He called Milanovic “pro-Russian” and a threat to Croatia's international standing.

Milanovich is an outspoken critic of the West's military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. He is often compared to Donald Trump for his combative style of dealing with political opponents.

Croatia's most popular politician, 58-year-old Milanovic, was prime minister. Populist in style, he was a fierce critic of Plenković, and the ongoing disputes between the two have recently marked the political scene in Croatia.

Milanović regularly criticizes Plenković and his CDU party for systemic corruption, calling the prime minister “a serious threat to democracy in Croatia.”

For many, the election is a continuation of the long-standing feud between two powerful politicians.

Primorac, a 59-year-old doctor and scientist who is returning to politics after 15 years, campaigned as a “unifier” promoting family values ​​and patriotism.