{"id":55630,"date":"2019-12-20T15:13:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T07:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=55630"},"modified":"2019-12-20T15:13:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T07:13:27","slug":"croatia-to-pick-a-president-in-tight-three-way-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=55630","title":{"rendered":"Croatia to pick a president in tight three-way race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Kolinda<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is Croatia’s first female president <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ZAGREB, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A nationalist folk singer and a leftist former premier are challenging Croatia’s conservative president in a close election race on Sunday that could loosen her camp’s grip on power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Adriatic nation, which is set to host the EU’s rotating presidency in 2020, is a magnet for tourists but no paradise for locals, who are leaving in droves to escape a sluggish economy and widespread corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the presidency is a largely ceremonial post, incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is a symbol of the status quo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In office since 2015, the 51-year-old is backed by the centre-right HDZ who have dominated politics almost continuously since Croatia’s 1991 independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now she is facing attacks from both sides in an election likely to be settled in a run-off on Jan 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By then, Croatia will be host to the EU presidency for a six-month term focused on the bloc’s boundaries: while the UK prepares for Brexit, Western Balkan states are knocking at the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grabar-Kitarovic, Croatia’s first female president, began her campaign with a comfortable lead in the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she has lost ground after a series of gaffes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most notably, the president raised eyebrows in November after she sang at the birthday party of Zagreb’s scandal-hit mayor Milan Bandic and said she would “bring (him) cakes … in prison” if he is convicted of a slew of corruption charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An apparent effort to win over the mayor’s supporters, the comments did little to inspire voters fed up with endemic graft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivals now trail behind her 27 per cent mark within the statistical margin of error, according to a recent poll by Ipsos Puls agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Grabar-Kitarovic loses, analysts say it could spell trouble for HDZ’s moderate Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in next year’s parliamentary poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top rivals on Sunday’s ballot are former Social Democrat prime minister Zoran Milanovic and right-wing singer and businessman Miroslav Skoro, who is running as an independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skoro, whose patriotic folk tunes were a hit in the 90’s, has been courting HDZ’s nationalist wing in hopes of stealing votes from those who feel the party has become too moderate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 57-year-old has called for the military to be deployed to halt migrants at the border and promised to pardon a convicted war criminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also wants to enlarge the powers of the president, who currently commands the armed forces and coordinates foreign policy with the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grabar-Kitarovic has herself tried to placate nationalists in the past – including failing to clearly condemn growing nostalgia for Croatia’s pro-Nazi WWII regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year she announced her re-election bid in a far-right magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, centre-left Milanovic is hoping to benefit from a divided right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considered driven by fans but arrogant by critics, the 53-year-old is already a familiar face after serving as prime minister from 2011 to 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He promises to make Croatia a “normal country” that respects minorities and has an independent judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But enthusiasm for him dimmed after his government failed to halt the culture of patronage and boost the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013, is one of its poorest members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 3.8 million people will be eligible to vote from 0600GMT to 1800GMT. — NNN-AGENCIESP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is Croatia’s first female president ZAGREB, Dec 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A nationalist folk singer and a leftist former premier are challenging Croatia’s conservative president in a close election race on Sunday that could loosen her camp’s grip on power. The Adriatic nation, which is set to host the EU’s rotating presidency in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55630"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}