Croatia presidential candidates head to a runoff with no outright winner

Exit polls indicate that Croatia's President Ivo Josipovic (pictured above) will face a runoff election against his conservative rival on January 11, after neither achieved a majority inSunday's presidential ballot.

Estimates put the center-left incumbent at 38.9 percent, neck-and-neck with his main challenger Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, at 38.1 percent.

Although the president has limited powers, the contest is a key hurdle for Croatia's political parties before parliamentary elections next year. The newest nation to enter the European Union is also one of its economically weakest. After six years of recession, unemployment is close to 20 percent and public debt is 80 percent of GDP.

Josipovic is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the leading member of the ruling coalition which has received much flak for the sagging economy. The party is accused of failing to carry out the necessary reforms on the country's bloated public sector and failing to encourage investment. Josipovic himself has been criticized for not taking a strong enough stance on important issues.

Josipovic ‘shares the blame'

Grabar-Kitarovic, a member of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, is the former foreign affairs minister and was once assistant to NATO's secretary general.

She had no trouble reminding voters of Josipovic's connection to the unpopular government, saying: "He shares the blame with the government for the bad situation since he remained silent and did nothing."

The other two contenders were the right's Milan Kujundzic and activist Vilibor Sincic, who has gained notoriety for fighting against forced evictions of people who fall behind on debt repayments.

At only 24 years old, Sincic came in third with 15.6 percent, a sign perhaps of disenchantment with the political elite and of a desire for change. Kujundzic came in last with 5.7 percent, according to polling agency Ipsos Puls.

Though 3.8 million Croatians are eligible to vote, the electoral commission reported that turnout had only been at around 36 percent two hours before polls closed, a figure 2 percent up from the same time five years ago.

Voters braved a massive storm with gale-force winds and a temperature of minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to get to polling stations.

es/ksb (AFP, dpa)