Croatians to Vote in Tight Presidential Election

Croatian citizens on Sunday vote in a presidential election whose outcome is hard to predict, given the strong polling of the top three candidates.

The race features 11 candidates in all. But opinion polls point to a three-horse race between the incumbent conservative, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the Social Democratic former prime minister Zoran Milanovic and the right-wing independent Miroslav Skoro, a folk singer and former MP.

"When I came [to the president's office], I found chaos. Croatia is better today, but I'm not satisfied yet … I believe we can achieve more," Grabar-Kitarovic, who is backed by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, concluded on Thursday at her final rally in the capital, Zagreb.

A former foreign minister, ambassador to the United States and Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy at NATO, Grabar-Kitarovic won the presidential election in January 2015, narrowly defeating the centre-left incumbent, Ivo Josipovic. The total difference in votes was only 32,435.

Meanwhile, Milanovic addressed his supporters in Zagreb on Friday. "I hope people will choose a normal Croatia," he said. He has pledged a "normal" and tolerant Croatia if he wins.

"After my victory, addressing the large number of people who voted for an alternative will follow. With these people, I have to establish the trust that the [current] president has violated," Milanovic added.

Milanovic became prime minister in 2011. But his government was hampered by an economic recession, from which Croatia only started to emerge in 2015.

In the November 2015 elections, the Social Democrat-led coalition won 56 out of 151 seats, while the centre-right HDZ-led coalition took 59. The new government was made up of the HDZ and smaller parties...