Croatians vote as bid to join EU looms
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2010, Monday
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CROATS voted for a new president yesterday, with an opposition candidate who promises to back the government's anti-corruption campaign, a vital part of the country's European Union membership bid, seen better placed for victory.
Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic, 52, a law professor and composer who beat 11 candidates in the first round on December 27, has held a solid lead in opinion polls over maverick Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic.
Both men support Croatia's aim to complete EU entry talks this year and join the bloc around 2012. Fighting corruption is a main requirement that Zagreb has to meet, as well as overhauling its judiciary and public administration.
"We have one candidate who is a hard worker (Bandic) and one academic. Ideally, we would need a combination of the two. I come from the working class so I voted for the worker," said Miljenko Jovic, a pensioner in Zagreb.
The last published polls gave Josipovic, a newcomer in high politics, 52 to 55 percent of the vote, compared with up to 45 percent for Bandic, who is running as an independent after the Social Democrats expelled him for insisting on his candidacy.
Bandic is overwhelmingly supported by expatriate Croats, who can vote in Croatian elections and make up almost 10 percent of the electorate.
The ruling conservative HDZ party's candidate did not make it to the runoff, but its leader and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, who kick-started the new anti-graft drive, remains the country's most popular politician.
Bandic has staged a late charge, winning support from the powerful Roman Catholic Church and war veterans, contrasting his image as a hard-working self-made man who is close to the people with Josipovic's academic and relatively wealthy background.
Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic, 52, a law professor and composer who beat 11 candidates in the first round on December 27, has held a solid lead in opinion polls over maverick Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic.
Both men support Croatia's aim to complete EU entry talks this year and join the bloc around 2012. Fighting corruption is a main requirement that Zagreb has to meet, as well as overhauling its judiciary and public administration.
"We have one candidate who is a hard worker (Bandic) and one academic. Ideally, we would need a combination of the two. I come from the working class so I voted for the worker," said Miljenko Jovic, a pensioner in Zagreb.
The last published polls gave Josipovic, a newcomer in high politics, 52 to 55 percent of the vote, compared with up to 45 percent for Bandic, who is running as an independent after the Social Democrats expelled him for insisting on his candidacy.
Bandic is overwhelmingly supported by expatriate Croats, who can vote in Croatian elections and make up almost 10 percent of the electorate.
The ruling conservative HDZ party's candidate did not make it to the runoff, but its leader and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, who kick-started the new anti-graft drive, remains the country's most popular politician.
Bandic has staged a late charge, winning support from the powerful Roman Catholic Church and war veterans, contrasting his image as a hard-working self-made man who is close to the people with Josipovic's academic and relatively wealthy background.
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