EU hopeful Croatia votes for next president

(ZAGREB) - Croatia voted on Sunday to elect a president to steer the Balkans country into the European Union, amid a deepening economic crisis and concerns over high-level corruption.

Croatians must choose a successor to popular centrist President Stipe Mesic, who stands down in February after serving the maximum two five-year terms -- and according to opinion polls, the vote is likely to go to a second round.

"Josipovic is the only one who represents values I believe this country should strive for," lawyer Nenad Vezic told AFP as he cast his ballot in the capital.

Ivo Josipovic, 52, of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP), looks virtually assured a place in the run-off.

Despite criticism that he lacks charisma, the polls have given him an average lead of 15 percentage points over his opponents.

But none of the 12 candidates likely to secure the more than 50 percent support needed for an outright victory.

Other leading contenders for the second round run-off include Milan Bandic, mayor of Zagreb and a former veteran SDP member; and businessman Nadan Vidosevic, formerly of the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Bandic got Ana Ozic's vote.

"He is the only one who will do something," the 52-year-old housewife said. "Despite all alleged affairs he did a lot for Zagreb."

Bandic, like some of the other candidates, has been the target of questions about his involvement in alleged corruption.

Croatian authoritites in recent months have launched investigations into several state-run companies and police have arrested dozen of officials.

And while some journalists have investigated Bandic's alleged links to corruption in the capital, others have asked questions about the source of Vidosevic wealth.

The issue of high-level corruption became one of the hot topics in the run-up to the election and it has long been a concern of the European Union.

The economy, which is set to contract by more than five percent this year as experts warn the crisis will likely worsen in 2010, was also a major campaign issue.

Mesic, the outgoing president, expressed regret that he had failed to get his country into the European club.

"I regret that during my mandate we did not enter the EU. It will be the task for the next president and the government," Mesic, 75, said after he voted in Zagreb.

The country's EU ambitions were delayed by a border dispute with neighbouring Slovenia and the former Yugoslav republic is now unlikely to join the 27-member bloc before 2012.

But Mesic did succeed in gaining Croatia's entry into the NATO military alliance earlier this year.

And he is generally credited with having helped transforming the country from the nationalist autocracy inherited from his predecessor Franjo Tudjman into a parliamentary democracy, curbing the president's powers.

At 4:00 pm (1500 GMT), three hours before polling stations were to close, turnout was 33.8 percent, the electoral commission said -- about seven percent down on the January 2005 vote.

Some 4.4 million people, including more than 400,000 living abroad, mostly in neighbouring Bosnia, are eligible to vote.

The electoral commission is to announce first results at results at midnight Sunday (2300 GMT).