Mesic set to recapture Croat presidency

Croatia's liberal President Stjepan Mesic looked set to win a second term in elections yesterday, exit polls released by state television showed.

The polls, published immediately after the voting ended, showed the popular 70-year-old reformer in first place with 52 per cent of votes, although on a small sample.

Somewhat surprisingly, independent candidate Boris Miksic, a US-based businessman, came in second with 20 per cent. The candidate of the conservative government, Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, was third with 17 per cent.

If his victory is confirmed, Mr Mesic - backed by the main centre-left opposition parties - will oversee the former Yugoslav republic's European Union entry planned in 2009 and act as a counterbalance to the conservative government of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.

The two have clashed over minor issues since the once hardline nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won power in 2003. But both are eager to bring Zagreb into the European mainstream after a decade of isolation.

"Mesic is the only serious politician and the least bad of all 13 candidates, so I voted for him," said Mirko Pavlic, a 63-year-old teacher.

Should Mr Mesic fail to get over 50 per cent of the votes, the two top contenders will contest a January 16 run-off vote. The president's post is largely ceremonial, but he has a say in foreign policy, defence and intelligence and appoints the prime minister.

Mr Mesic emerged as the surprise winner of a landmark ballot in 2000, and presents a sharp contrast to his autocratic predecessor, Franjo Tudjman, who led Croatia to independence but was later ostracised by the West over his hardline nationalism.

Mr Mesic's image as a relaxed but quick-witted man of the people made him popular at home, but his insistence on delivering Croat war crimes suspects to the international tribunal in The Hague dented his appeal among war veterans and nationalists.

He helped Zagreb regain international trust - largely lost under Tudjman - by leading a drive to normalise relations with Serbia and Bosnia after the bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

Mr Kosor, 51, a former journalist responsible in the government for families and war veterans, is seen as lacking popular appeal and a strong political personality.