Croatian President Mesic secures second term in crushing victory: exit polls

ZAGREB : Croatian President Stipe Mesic overwhelmingly defeated his ruling conservative party rival in the election runoff, exit polls showed, securing a second five-year term in which he promised to lead the former Yugsolav republic into the European Union.

After voting closed at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT), an exit poll by HTV state television gave the centrist Mesic 70.85 percent of the ballots, against just 29.15 percent for Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

The first partial official results were not due until after midnight. In the first round on January 2, Mesic won 48.92 percent of the vote, just short of the 50 percent necessary to avoid a runoff and well ahead of Kosor's 20.3 percent.

Both candidates promised to lead the Balkan republic into the European Union within the next five years, a major prize for a country that was ravaged by inter-ethnic war in the early 1990s following its split from the former Yugoslav federation.

But while Kosor is a relative to newcomer to Croatian politics, Mesic was able to campaign on his first-term record of democratic reform and improved international relations following the isolation under his hardline nationalist predecessor, Franjo Tudjman.

"I expect people will realize what is needed in the present moment. Croatia is in a delicate situation when it has to prepare itself for entry into the EU and fulfil all the criteria," the 70-year-old said as he cast his ballot on a sunny day in Zagreb.

"Since I have opened Croatia to the world, of course I think that a lot can still be done in that sense."

EU leaders last month said they would open accession talks with Croatia in March, and the Balkan country is hoping to join the bloc before the end of the decade.

But Brussels has warned that progress hinges on the transfer of war crimes indictee Ante Gotovina to the UN tribunal at The Hague, as well as the return of some 200,000 ethnic Serbs who fled near the end of the independence conflict.

Prime Minister Ivo Sanader insists that Gotovina, a former general who remains a hero to many Croats, is no longer in the country, and Mesic said during the election campaign that Zagreb merely had to prove to Brussels that it was "doing everything" to find him.

Mesic, who has the backing of the three main opposition parties who were defeated by the HDZ in legislative polls in 2003, also warned voters against giving too much power to the conservative ruling party.

"I will vote for Mesic, not so much because of his leadership qualities but so that we can have a balance of power," said one voter, 29-year-old Gorana.

Kosor, 51, has been a loyal ally of Sanader and has stood beside him in his efforts to break with the HDZ's nationalist past and steer the party into the mainstream of conservative European politics.

But analysts have said the former radio journalist has failed to spell out a clear agenda and may be facing a backlash from hardline HDZ loyalists who are unhappy with Sanader's reforms.

"I am voting for Kosor because of her personality and not because she is from the HDZ. I think that younger people should take the post of president," said 55-year-old waiter Marko.

Election officials said that at 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) turnout was 39.8 percent, compared to 41.9 percent at the same time in the first round when just over 50 percent of voters participated.

Well they elected socialist politician for second term, I hope that they know what they are doing. But his big advantage it is proof how weak Croatian rightists are.

There is typical for Eastern Europe tendency, when rightists won the last parliamentary elections then now leftists must win presidential elections. Society is always unhappy with their politicians and changing options as often as they can. Their rightist should know that and I don’t understand why they chose Kosor who was Deputy Prime Minister in present government! Big error, their candidate shouldn’t be closely connected to actual government.

Let me ask you a question, if you don't mind. And I'd love to hear the opinion of others on the ping list.

Here in the U.S. our media is very liberal, but now we have lots of ways to go around them for our news and opinions -- talk radio (especially Rush Limbaugh), a few newspapers and magazines (like the Wall Street Journal editorial page), and of course the internet (including FR, blogs, email, etc).

How does this compare to East European countries. Is there a monopoly on news and opinion? Is it a left-wing monopoly? Or are there ways for a large variety of views to be heard by the people?

Sometimes there is situation that national TV is little dependent of the current government but this tendency slowly coming to the end. Well in Poland we have all kind of private medias, leftist, more liberal and rightist. Media are always dependent of their owners vision and interest. I think that similar situation is in all democratic Eastern European states. Of course in Belarus for example there is minimal existence of free newspapers (often banned for a while) and there is no free TV or radio.

Thanks for the information. From what you describe, freedom of information is spreading. And that sounds like good news.

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