In an election contested by candidates from Croatia’s two largest political parties, polling stations opened their doors on Sunday morning to elect a new president of the country .
The post of President in Croatia has semi-honorary powers, but has a role in foreign policy, defense and security issues.
About 3.8 million Croats are eligible to vote to choose one of eight candidates, including three women, representing a variety of political spectrum from left to right.
The current president, Zoran Milanovic, the candidate of the opposition Social Democratic Party, is seeking a second presidential term.
His main rival is Dragan primotrac, a former science minister, backed by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In the event that none of the candidates wins a majority of votes, a second round of elections will be held.
Opinion polls
According to the latest opinion poll conducted by Nova TV on Friday, Milanovic leads the race with 37.2% of popular support, while primotrach came in second place with 20.4% of support.
He is followed in the ranking by two candidates: independent Maria slack-raspudich and Ivana Kikin from the left-wing party “muzimo”, who received almost 10% support in the poll.
Closing of polling stations
Polling stations close at 1800 GMT, the results of the opinion polls are expected to be announced minutes later.
Preliminary results are expected to be announced by 1900 GMT, while official results will be released in the following days.
Powers of the president
The Croatian president has a largely symbolic role, since he cannot veto laws, but he is involved in foreign policy, defense and security issues. Since taking office as president, Milanovich has been in constant conflict with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic over domestic and foreign policies.
