Draxblog III

Croatian Presidential Election 2010 - No Drama

According to first exit polls, result of Croatian presidential election is hardly going to represent a surprise or provide drama with recounts or lawsuits. Ipsos-Puls poll, aired by Nova TV, gave Ivo Josipović 64,6 percent, while Milan Bandić got 35,4 percent.

First reactions of Bandić's people indicated that such margin - even when compensated with ridiculously high turnout in Bosnia-Herzegovina - means that the fat lady is singing.

New Croatian president is going to be Ivo Josipović, a new prime minister Jadranka Kosor.This is the reality Croatia is going to live in next few years.

My Vote Goes to Josipović (As Lesser of Two Evils)

Those readers who follow this blog regularly are probably aware that I'm not too happy with the result of 1st round of Croatian presidential election. 2nd round, despite being described as "more intense" and "more focused" by national media, didn't create much enthusiasm.

Negative campaign, same as the restart of eternal WW2-era conflict between "Black" and "Red" Croatia (with fans of the former supporting Bandić), made Croatian public and the author of this post all too aware of candidates' flaws and not much aware of candidates' virtues. Both candidates leave much be desired and are far from being an optimal chief of state.

However, one candidate is less flawed than another. Josipović showed very little spine and even less consistency in his campaign, yet he didn't afford himself many gaffs nor he showed the utter lack of general knowledge or diplomatic skills during the debates.

Since most of Croatian establishment supports Josipović (including former presidential canidate Nadan Vidošević) and since most opinion polls predict his easy victory, my decision to vote for SDP candidate is probably the most conformist electoral decision I ever made. And that very conformism is the reason why my trip towards polling station on Sunday won't be something to be enthusiastic about.