Zoran Milanović, president of Croatia, meeting with NATO leaders from the Balkans region in 2023. Photo by NATO on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA).

Zoran Milanović was the runaway victor in his bid to be re-elected as Croatia’s president for a second consecutive term. Celebrations were, however, overshadowed by dismissals from within Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's cabinet and ballooning costs for everyday citizens. Milanović’s victory in the 2024–2025 election, at nearly 75 percent, was by far the largest margin between candidates in Croatia’s presidential election history. However, turnout was down sharply since voters last went to the polls in 2019–20, and many center-right and right-wing voters were disillusioned with Dragan Primorac, the ruling conservative party (HDZ)’s candidate.

The different sides and their origins

Milanović’s bombastic style, characterized by one-liners and provocative media sound bites, shone through during all moments of the campaign, where no one came close to challenging him. A former prime minister, Milanović’s origins as a self-described leftist have led to a career of political positions, including within Ivica Račan’s Social Democratic Party (SDP), whose predecessor was the League of Communists of Croatia. 

Milanović has faced criticism in the past for what Western media has described as pro-Russian stances on the war in Ukraine, and for threatening to veto Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO ascension. While he has provocative tendencies, to characterize him as pro-Russian in political nature just because he has mastered the art of keeping his name in the headlines is missing the mark. He is better viewed as someone who seeks a non-aligned approach while simultaneously inflating his self-importance. Plain and simple, he is an opportunist, and a good one at that; it is just a shame that the Croatian populace is left with a president who ignores their most basic concerns. This should be viewed as even more reprehensible as he touts himself as the candidate who will battle for workers’ rights, while his actual policy record as prime minister is that of a neoliberal.

Dragan Primorac. Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Primorac seemingly reappeared from political obscurity as he was last involved in politics in 2009 as a member of the cabinet of Ivo Sanader, former prime minister. Sanader, himself a former member of HDZ, has been serving an 18-year prison sentence for corruption and bribery charges stemming from his involvement in the privatization of state oil firm Industrija nafte (INA). Primorac’s candidacy was largely seen as a farce in the country because of his time away from politics and his engagement or lack thereof — his YouTube channel announcement of his candidacy failed to gather even 9,000 views. 

This trend of Milanović grabbing the public’s attention and Primorac failing to do so continued during the debates as Milanović captured nearly all the social media buzz with his witty comebacks and personal attacks. Primorac struggled for legitimacy as a candidate because he was viewed as an extension of HDZ and the policies of its leader, Andrej Plenković. Some comments were littered with admiration for Milanović's humour; others were immensely disappointed that these were the candidates to choose from. One example: “Primorac is not a politician, let him stick to his profession … but Milanović disgusts me, so uncultured.” 

Himself a former president, Plenković’s time as prime minister has been tumultuous, with as many as 31 cabinet ministers having to be replaced because of arrests, resignations and outright scandals. The latest example was Deputy Prime Minister Josip Dabro, who resigned after a video surfaced showing him discharging a firearm out of a moving car. This comes on the heels of a corruption scandal in which the ministry of agriculture could not account for tens of millions of euros in raw materials. 

Plenković’s political beginnings center around an admiration for Karl Marx and Edvard Kardelj, the latter a prominent Slovenian communist whom he quoted frequently in his matura (secondary-school exit examination). He faced harsh criticism for his exemption from mandatory military service less than a year before Croatia’s War of Independence began because of a mild form of anemia. In addition to this condition, which usually presents as asymptomatic, it remains highly controversial, as his mother worked as a cardiologist within an army hospital in Zagreb during that time. Perhaps what is most baffling about Plenković is his inability to truly be pinned down to any specific ideology or position.

A cost-of-living crisis and boycott

This election cycle fell at a precarious time for Croatians when the holiday season had ended, with many expressing discontent at the skyrocketing price of daily essentials. This was seen as a culmination of the saga of adopting the euro, which was promised as a transition without the effect of sticker shock or shrinkflation. In January, it reached a boiling point where the Facebook activist group “Halo, Inspektore” (“Hello Inspector”) began a nationwide boycott of the national grocery conglomerates. 

A notable example occurred when the German hypermarket chain Kaufland attempted to sell Croatian-made narrow noodles, commonly used for soup, at a “discounted price” of two euros. Commenters were outraged and posted things such as “ONLY two euros” and “even Barilla [Italian international food company] is not this expensive.” 

What hurts consumers even more is that many times, the exploitative companies are Croatian-owned and operated, and salaries have not kept up with the prices. To reinforce this, Plenković announced that Croatia was joining Slovakia’s EU initiative to protect the smaller economies of Europe within the food market, as these multinational corporations are incredibly difficult to hold to account. He did attempt to institute price caps for 40 everyday goods; however, this was mainly dismissed as a “stop-gap” solution that did little to bolster consumer confidence. 

The element that links all the politicians mentioned is their resistance to the kind of systemic change that will strip the power and influence they have grasped tightly. Without this power and control, they not only lack legitimacy but also the possibility of continuing their calculated destruction of a nation-state. 

Much like their political antecedents, they have long prospered from the stagnation and, in some areas, regression of a newly independent state like Croatia, at least in modern contexts. For Milanović, Plenković, and Primorac, it must seem as though they are all staring at a three-way mirror, each a reflection of the other’s corruption, lies, and poorly veiled contempt for the society they govern. 

All the noise surrounding the candidates and their deficiencies has served as a distraction from the several larger crises facing Croatia over brain drain and the importation of low-skilled foreign labour. The compounding cost-of-living dilemma, high inflation, and an enlarged inept bureaucracy leave many at home and abroad wondering where Croatia must go from here to ensure the prosperity of its citizens. At a minimum, what must occur is a continuation of a united citizens’ movement which seeks to reform the system so that it may function for us and not remain at the mercy of bureaucrats in Brussels or Zagreb.