Croatia heads to the polls on Sunday to vote in the second round of a presidential election. Incumbent president Zoran Milanović is the favorite, having won most votes in the first round.
His main challenger Dragan Primporac says there's evidence of foreign interference.
Our correspondent Aljoša Milenković reports.
His main challenger Dragan Primporac says there's evidence of foreign interference.
Our correspondent Aljoša Milenković reports.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Zagreb streets show the usual daily activity, with no sign of election campaigning in and around the city center.
00:09There is not a single billboard or party activist to be seen here.
00:14Maybe that's because many people seem pretty confident that Zoran Milanovic will remain in the presidential palace after Sunday's election.
00:23So, no reason for extra campaign spending.
00:26The people here are more interested in bread and butter issues and maintaining the balance of power between the two most influential and yet opposing political characters.
00:38President Zoran Milanovic on one side, and the Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who supports Dragan Primorac, on the other.
00:47In this presidential race, Milanovic has the upper hand.
00:51In every monthly poll that you have, 70, 75 or 65 percent of people who say that the conditions in Croatia are not good.
01:01That Croatia is going in a bad direction.
01:05So, what Zoran Milanovic did was, he was able to get support from these 70 percent.
01:11This is why you see now huge levels of people voting for him.
01:15Maybe that's one of the reasons why in the final meters of the presidential race, the rhetoric became more heated with accusations about foreign meddling.
01:27As we've all seen, one of the most influential media outlets, Politico, yesterday published reports that Russian and Serbian digital networks are definitely involved in this presidential campaign.
01:39Many of us believe that our national sovereignty is being threatened for the first time.
01:45Those accusations seemingly forced Milanovic to deliberately distance himself from Russia within the current geopolitical turmoil.
01:55The world is more insecure than it has ever been.
01:59The more or less democratically elected most powerful powers in the world, by which I mean America, first and foremost are our allies.
02:08Russia is not our ally, and obviously will never be, and should not be.
02:12And obviously will never be, and should not be. They don't talk.
02:18Croatians will know who the winner is by the end of Sunday.
02:22As to whether they will bring any changes to the country, many people here say, not likely.
02:29Aljoša Milenković, CGTN, Zagreb.