Between Christmas and New Year citizens Croatia were invited to go to the polling stations. The Croatian government has made a decision to call presidential elections, which will be held on Sunday, December 29. The second round of elections, if it happens, will be held on January 12.
Among the candidates is the current president of Croatia Zoran Milanovic who will try to secure a new five-year mandate. Although the Government's official decision has not yet entered into force - only after it will the collection of signatures for the presidential candidacy begin - Milanović has already announced his slogan.
"The president for the president," Milanović wrote on his Instagram profile.
"Croatia that thinks of itself and protects its interests must also be a country that respects all its citizens and in which all state institutions are at the service of the Croatian people, not individuals." That is why the protection of Croatian sovereignty, the protection of Croatian institutions and, most importantly, care for the Croatian people were and remain my priorities," Milanović announced in the description of the same announcement.
Who are the people who will stand in line with the president of Croatia, according to all surveys, the most popular politician in the country?
Twelve potential candidates
The second favorite is the independent candidate and former member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Dragan Primorac, whose party is the prime minister Andrej Plenković and supported.
However, as current polls show, Primorac is still far behind Milanović. The results of HRating on HRT show that Milanović, who is supported by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, has the support of around 36,8 percent of voters. Milanović had almost the same support in October. Dragan Primorac, the candidate of the HDZ coalition, is currently at 22 percent, which is almost 2 percent less than in October, and compared to the other candidates, the biggest monthly drop.
If similar percentages are seen on election day, December 29, Milanović and Primorac will go to the second round, reports Croatian daily Dnevni avaz.
For now, there are a total of 12 potential candidates, and of the significant ones, candidacies have been announced by independent MP Marija Selak Raspudić, MP and candidate of the Mozemo party Ivana Kekin and MP of the Most party Miro Bulj.
To be able to run, they must collect the signatures of 10.000 adult citizens. Each voter can support only one candidate with his signature.
The official campaign begins on December 13 and will last until midnight on December 28, that is, 24 hours before the election, when the election silence comes into effect.
The most popular politician in Croatia
However, according to public opinion surveys in Croatia, the most likely scenario is that Milanović secures another five years in the seat of the president in Pantovčak.
The results of Crodemoskop, a survey conducted by the agency Promocija plus for RTL television, published on November 10, show that, when it comes to the popularity of politicians, the rating of Zoran Milanović is increasing slightly. According to the data of this agency**,** he increased his rating on the list of the most positive politicians by two percent compared to the previous month - 23,3 percent compared to 21,2 percent from October. Second on the list is Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is second on the list, with a rating of 14,6 percent - compared to 14,8 percent from the last measurement in October.
Formula: Populism and criticism of the government
Milanović is an excellent speaker - but also a populist. How is it previously written "Vreme", his conflict with Andrej Plenković is known, whom he repeatedly called a "Brussels poodle", a "Brussels cat", "a man who is not interested in the interests of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but only in how he will 'park' in Brussels". Since he is not a member of the ruling party himself and does not have to make unpopular decisions, Milanović found himself in a favorable situation - he can constantly keep HDZ in the crosshairs, which he does, again and again firing criticism in Plenković's direction - although the prime minister is by no means indebted to him.
The intolerance between the Croatian president and the prime minister is so great that Milanović announced his participation in the parliamentary elections earlier this year. The HDZ hastily tried to prevent this, realizing that Milanović's popularity could overturn the elections - even though, at the party level, the HDZ is much more popular than the SDP. The Constitutional Court reacted sooner or better, saying, logically, that it is impossible for the president of the republic to appear on the election list for the parliament, threatening to annul the election list, and perhaps even the elections as a whole if Milanović appears on them as a candidate.
Milanović was not worried about that. "What can I do", he said. "The so-called warning of the Constitutional Court in my emotional and political world has the character of this beech tree. If they dare to cancel the election, it is a coup d'état. Coup d'état!"
However, Milanović did not appear as an official candidate, but tried to transfer his own popularity to his party by informally being at the head of the column - a practice well known in Serbia.
In the end, HDZ still won, and the conflict between the two most popular Croatian politicians continues to this day.
Sources: Dnevni avaz/Tportal/Beta
