Zagreb/Belgrade, 12 January 2025 (Hina/dpa/MIA) — More than 6,500 polling stations opened at 7 am in Croatia, where voters are deciding whether the country’s president for the next five years will be the incumbent Zoran Milanović, backed by the opposition SDP party, or Dragan Primorac, backed by the ruling HDZ party.

Slightly more voters than two weeks ago turned out on Sunday morning for the second round of Croatia's presidential election, according to data released at noon by Croatia's State Electoral Commission.

By 11:30 am, 460,890 voters, or 13.80% of the electorate, had cast their ballots. In the first round of voting on Dec. 29, 459,502 voters had voted by the same time.

In the first round, Milanović, from the Social Democratic Party, received 49% of the vote against seven other contenders — just short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff.

His main challenger Dragan Primorac, supported by the conservative HDZ, garnered just under 20%.

During his five years in office, Milanović's platform resonated not only with his core left-wing voters, but also to the right-wing and far-right voters in the Balkan country of 3.8 million citizens.

From 2011 to 2016, Milanović also served as prime minister of Croatia, a member of the European Union since 2013.

Observers also attribute his dominance in the current elections to the weakness of the opposing candidates. The results are expected during the course of Sunday evening.