#thenewscompany : Croatia began voting in a parliamentary election on Wednesday after a bitter campaign between a prime minister seeking a new term and a populist president who wants to be head-of-government despite a court warning.
The showdown between Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, a conservative, and President Zoran Milanovic, a left-wing populist, comes as the European Union nation wrestles with corruption, a labour shortage, the highest inflation rate in the eurozone and illegal migration.
For months, Plenkovic and his ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) seemed poised for an easy victory that would secure his third term as premier. But in mid-March, Milanovic made the shock announcement that he would challenge Plenkovic and become candidate prime minister for the Social Democrats (SDP). Milanovic was prime minister shortly before Plenkovic and his role as president is largely ceremonial.
“Croatia has never had such a corrupt government,” Milanovic, 57, said in his final address ahead of the vote.
Labelling the elections a “referendum on the country’s future” he urged citizens to “go out and vote for anyone but the HDZ”.
Milanovic called Plenkovic the “godfather of crime” and highlighted the recent appointment of the country’s new chief prosecutor, a judge with alleged ties to corruption suspects.
Corruption has long been a problem for the HDZ.
Several of Plenkovic’s ministers have stepped down following accusations and the anti-graft fight was key to Croatia’s bid to join the EU in 2013.
