Croatia | The prime minister and the president measure each other in extraordinary elections

in Croatia will be voted on Wednesday in the parliamentary elections in which the sitting prime minister by Andrej Plenković in practice, only the sitting president can challenge the extended term Zoran Milanović.

In March, Milanović, who holds the largely ceremonial role of president, announced that he would go to the parliamentary elections to challenge his long-time political opponent Plenković. If the president became the elected prime minister, it would be an unprecedented event in Croatia.

Milanović's registration in the prime ministerial race did not happen smoothly, as, among other things, the Supreme Court of Croatia ruled that Milanović cannot aspire to a party political position by the president, where the party register must be given up. According to the court, the president should resign before campaigning, but Milanović has continued campaigning as president in the ranks of the Social Democratic Party, despite the court's ruling.

Sharp-tongued the president has accused the prime minister and his conservative HDZ party of corruption, and Milanović himself has campaigned for a just Croatia.

The president's speeches may have an echo chamber, as the voting behavior of Croatians in these elections is influenced by, among other things, widespread corruption in Croatia, the highest inflation in the euro area, and illegal immigration in the country's border areas.

There has also been an exchange of words from the direction of Prime Minister Plenković. He has accused Milanović of violating the constitution and belittling the country's political culture, and highlighted Milanović's pro-Russian views. Among other things, Milanović has criticized the EU for supporting Ukraine in Russia's war of aggression, because in the president's opinion this only prolongs the war.

Opinion polls conducted before the elections predict an election victory for the prime minister's party HDZ. The support of the Social Democrats has swung about ten percentage points away from HDZ.