President Zoran Milanovic has narrowly missed re-election in the first round in Croatia’s presidential election.
Milanovic received around 49.1 percent of the votes, as the electoral commission announced on Sunday evening after counting nearly all the votes. This means he will have to face his conservative challenger Dragan Primorac in a runoff election in two weeks. Primorac obtained almost 19.4 percent.
Initial forecasts had Milanovic still at over 50 percent. He has been one of the most influential figures in Croatian politics for almost two decades. He served as prime minister from 2011 to 2016, and took over as head of state in 2020.