Croatia’s president was re-elected with a landslide victory

Croatian voters have re-elected Zoran Milanovic for a second term after winning nearly three-quarters of the votes cast in the country’s presidential election.

The result was disastrous for his opponent Dragan Primorac, who was backed by the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.

Primorac won 25% of the vote, the worst ever result for Croatia’s most powerful political force.

The result was met with a muted response from Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

He refused to congratulate the winner and insisted that “Milanovic has nothing to offer”.

Milanovic said that he will “offer a hand” to the prime minister.

Croatian presidents perform a ceremonial role. The constitution emphasizes that they should not be a political party, but should act as head of state for all citizens.

Milanovic has often criticized the ruling party on issues such as corruption, inflation and health.

Although Russia condemned the invasion of Ukraine, the West has also often criticized the military aid given to Kiev.

before to be presidentMilanovic was the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2011 to 2016, and led the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) from 2007 to 2016.

Last year it was inserted into the country’s parliamentary elections by briefly announcing it He would run for prime ministerbefore a court declared the move unconstitutional.

In response, he accused the judges of doing HDZ’s bidding – a “gangster clique”, as he put it.

HDZ has been the ruling party since Croatia gained independence more than 30 years ago.