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A10 WORLD NEWS
Monday 6 January 2020
Croatia exit poll: Leftist candidate leads presidential race

By DARKO BANDIC victory for a left-wing offi-
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — cial to a major post in cen-
An exit poll on Sunday in tral Europe where populists
Croatia's fiercely contested and conservatives have
presidential election sug- been winning elections in
gested that a leftist chal- recent years.
lenger is set to win the race Sunday's presidential runoff
over the incumbent con- was expected to be a very
servative. tight, unpredictable vote.
The exit poll carried by pub- Grabar Kitarovic and Mila-
lic broadcaster HRT and novic made it into the run-
conducted by the IPSOS off after the first round of
polling agency says Zoran voting on Dec. 22.
Milanovic won 53% of Milanovic won slightly more
votes while Kolinda Grabar votes than Grabar Kitarovic
Kitarovic garnered nearly in the first round. There are
47%. 3.8 million voters in Croatia,
The official vote count ap- a country of 4.2 million that
peared to confirm Mila- is also a member of NATO.
novic's victory. The two candidates repre-
With about 50% of the vote sent the two main political
counted, Milanovic had options in Croatia. Gra-
54% while Grabar Kitarov- bar Kitarovic is backed by
ic has 46%, according to the governing, conserva-
state TV. Zoran Milanovic, the liberal opposition candidate, right, waves after voting with his spouse Sanja tive Croatian Democratic
If confirmed in the official Music Milanovic at a polling station in Zagreb, Croatia, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. Union, a dominating politi-
vote tally, the result would Associated Press cal force since the country
mean a blow for the ruling split from the former Yugo-
conservatives while Croatia self thanked his supporters Grabar Kitarovic's associ- the first time since joining slavia in 1991, while Mila-
holds the European Union's and campaign volunteers, ates said they will wait for the bloc in 2013. This means novic enjoys support from
rotating presidency, and stopping short of declaring the official results, but ad- that the EU's newest mem- the leftist Social Democrats
before a parliamentary victory. mitted that the gap be- ber state will be tasked for and their liberal allies.
election later this year. "Thanks to all the volun- tween the two candidates six months with overseeing Even though Croatia's pres-
Milanovic's team and sup- teers, all of you who sup- as shown in the exit poll Britain's divorce from the idency is largely ceremo-
porters at his election ported me during the suggested major changes bloc on Jan. 31 and the nial, Sunday's election is
headquarters were jubilant past six months," Milanovic can't be expected. start of post-Brexit talks. an important test before a
after the exit poll tally was wrote on Facebook. "Peo- Croatia assumed the EU's If officially confirmed, Mila- parliamentary election ex-
published. Milanovic him- ple, thank you!" presidency on Jan. 1 for novic's win would be a rare pected later this year. q

Austria's Greens clear final hurdle for

government with Kurz

By FRANK JORDANS the opportunity to achieve tional election on the back
Associated Press progress on issues such as of mounting voter concern
BERLIN (AP) — Members of cutting child poverty, in- about climate change.
Austria's Green party voted creasing government trans- It took almost 14% of the
Saturday to join a new gov- parency and combating vote, coming fourth be-
ernment led by conserva- climate change. He noted hind the far-right Freedom
tive former Chancellor Se- that months of negotiations Party, the center-left Social
bastian Kurz, clearing the with the People's Party had Democrats and Kurz's par-
final hurdle for a previously already produced a plan ty, which alone received
untested left-right alliance for a 2021 tax reform that more than 37% of the vote.
at the national level. emphasizes environmental The election became nec-
A clear 93% majority of protection. essary after the collapse
Green delegates backed "Big, fat, stinking diesel SUVs of Kurz's previous coalition
the coalition pact that was are going to get more ex- government with the Free-
already approved by their pensive," Kogler told the dom Party following the
party leadership and Kurz's party meeting in Salzburg, release of a video showing
Austrian People's Party ear- citing the current wildfires the far right's then-leader,
lier this week. Out of 264 in distant Australia as an Heinz-Christian Strache, of-
delegates, 246 voted in fa- example of natural disas- fering favors to a purported
vor of the pact with only 15 ters already being fueled Russian investor.
voting against or abstain- by climate change. The Austrian coalition is be-
ing. The Greens want Austria to ing closely watched as a
Werner Kogler, the leader become carbon-neutral possible template for a fu-
of the Greens, had urged in 2040, a decade earlier ture government in neigh-
delegates to put aside con- than the European Union's boring Germany, where
cerns about entering into target. the Green party has also
a coalition with Kurz's con- The party made strong been riding high in recent
servatives and recognize gains in September's na- polls. q