Croatia’s President Milanovic Eyes Re-election Amid Challenges

Croatia’s populist President Zoran Milanovic has indicated interest to seek re-election for his country’s presidency, after his failed bid for the Premiership position, which he lost to conservative rival Andrej Plenkovic.

Although the position of the president is largely ceremonial, Milanovic announced the bid on Wednesday off the cuff, after being asked by reporters in the capital Zagreb when he would declare his candidacy.

Milanovic replied: “Right now”, adding “I will need it for a number of reasons, including organisational support and to prevent theft,” he said even as the date for the election has been fixed but pundits said it could be in December.

The 57-year-old, Milanovic won the presidency in January 2020 as the SDP’s candidate. He will be seeking his second term as president and it is suggested that support from the main opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) would be vital to his campaign.

Milanovic has condemned the European Union position on Russia’s war against Ukraine, which made his rival Plenkovic to accuse him of holding “pro-Russian views”.

Plenkovic’s governing HDZ party won the most of the seats in the parliamentary elections and later formed a coalition government after the April elections.

Leaders of the EU country of 3.8 million people must begin to find solutions to the myriad of problems troubling the nation such as corruption, a labour shortage, soaring inflation and illegal migration.