Zoran Milanovic

Croatian citizens on Sunday vote in the second round of the presidential election, which pits the incumbent conservative, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, against the Social Democratic former prime minister Zoran Milanovic.

Croatian political experts said the results of Sunday's first round of presidential elections in were predictable and in line with surveys conducted before the election.

"What happened was what we expected and what I predicted," political analyst Zarko Puhovski told BIRN on Monday.

Miroslav Skoro won the most votes in Osijek.
Croatian media and analysts have estimated that whoever "wins" Zagreb will also be Croatia's new president, with Milanovic winning 33.33 percent of votes in Zagreb, followed by Miroslav Skoro with 23.37, and the third was Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic with 20.14 percent of the vote.

Preliminary results of Croatia's presidential election on Sunday, after nearly 100 per cent of votes were counted, put Social Democratic candidate and former prime minister Zoran Milanovic in the lead with 29.55 per cent of votes cast.

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

Incumbent President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said that Croatia would insist on Serbia's meeting all criteria, which, as she said, "must face its past", instead of returning to World War II, in order to "experience the catharsis of what they did to Croatia and to other neighbouring countries".

The Agony of Choice

Croatia's presidential election is not due before the second half of December, but the field of (self-declared) candidates is already getting crowded. Aside from the obvious, incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, former Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has also decided to throw his hat into the ring.

The Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, has remained in power after proving it still has a new majority in parliament and naming one of its MPs as the new chair of parliament, thus avoiding snap elections in June.

On Friday, it proved that it still had majority support by voting in HDZ MP Gordan Jandrokovic as the new chair of parliament.

The saga over the payment of "per diems" to advisers in the Croatian government and state attorney's office for fictional trips will likely be resolved in the course of a wider investigation, an expert told BIRN.

Representatives of Croatia and Slovenia will meet again at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, PCA, in The Hague on Thursday to try and resolve their issues over maritime borders in the Piran Gulf, off the two neighbouring countries' coasts - a dispute that dates back to the break-up of Yugoslavia.