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Croatia goes to the polls amid economic slump | Croatia goes to the polls amid economic slump |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Croatians go to the polls to elect a president on Sunday under the cloud of a deep economic crisis, with the incumbent Ivo Josipovic seen as the frontrunner as he seeks a second term in the EU’s newest member state. | |
Polls showed that of the four candidates vying for the largely ceremonial post, the 57-year-old centre-left leader had only one serious rival, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, of the main opposition conservative HDZ. | |
With none of the candidates expected to win more than 50% outright, a runoff round on 11 January is likely. | With none of the candidates expected to win more than 50% outright, a runoff round on 11 January is likely. |
Josipovic – the third president of the former Yugoslav republic since independence in 1991 – is a member of Croatia’s Social Democrats (SDP), the main partner in the ruling coalition. | |
A former law professor who won office on an anti-corruption ticket, Josipovic famously played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy when Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, hoping membership would revive its flagging economy. | A former law professor who won office on an anti-corruption ticket, Josipovic famously played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy when Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, hoping membership would revive its flagging economy. |
But the economy remains one of the EU’s weakest after six years of recession. Unemployment is close to 20%, half of the country’s youth are jobless and public debt is close to 80% of gross domestic product. | |
The centre-left government stands accused of failing to carry out the necessary reforms to address the country’s huge and inefficient public sector or improve the investment climate. | The centre-left government stands accused of failing to carry out the necessary reforms to address the country’s huge and inefficient public sector or improve the investment climate. |
Weighed down by the SDP-led government’s unpopularity and accused by critics of not taking a clear stance on key issues, Josipovic has taken a firmer stand in the months leading up to the vote, pledging a “better economy with jobs for every young person”. | |
Though the president has limited powers – running the country is primarily left to the government – Sunday’s election is seen as a key test for Croatia’s political parties before parliamentary contests in late 2015. | |
A victory for Grabar-Kitarovic would further boost the position of the HDZ, currently the most popular party. The 46-year-old, who represents moderates within HDZ, is a former foreign and European affairs minister and an ex-Nato assistant secretary general. | |
During the campaign she criticised Josipovic’s lack of initiative on tackling economic hardship. “He shares the blame with the government for a bad [economic] situation in the country since he remained silent and did nothing,” Grabar-Kitarovic said. | |
The two other candidates in the race – whose chances according to polls are very slim – are rightist Milan Kujundzic and activist Ivan Vilibor Sincic, who is known for fighting against forced evictions of people who fall behind on debt repayments. | |
More than 6,000 polling stations opened at 6am, and the first partial results are expected later on Sunday. | |
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