ZAGREB -- Incumbent Croatian President Zoran Milanovic convincingly won the presidential runoff held on Sunday, beating his rival Dragan Primorac with a commanding lead, according to the Croatian State Election Commission (SEC).

With 99.59 percent of the votes processed, Milanovic garnered 74.67 percent, leaving Primorac far behind with 25.33 percent, the SEC reported.

There are more than 3.7 million legitimate voters in Croatia, and the turnout rate in the runoff is about 44.15 percent, the SEC said.

Delivering a victory speech at his campaign headquarters, Milanovic said the runoff result showcased the Croatian people's trust on him.

"I see this as an approval of my work in the last five years, this victory is a great recognition for me, an act of people's trust on me," Milanovic said, calling for cooperation between him, supported by the largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Croatian government led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Speaking at his campaign headquarters, Primorac conceded defeat, acknowledging the voters' decision.

"Zoran Milanovic and I share completely different spiritual, moral, professional values and thoughts about the future of our homeland. The decision was made by the citizens democratically and should be respected," he said.

However, neither Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, head of the HDZ, nor Primorac congratulated Milanovic for his re-election, a move criticized by former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and many others in Croatia.

In the first round of election on Dec 29, 2024, Milanovic led the pack of eight candidates with 49.09 percent of the vote. Primorac, backed by the HDZ, secured second place with 19.35 percent.

According to Croatian law, if no candidate wins more than half of the votes in the first round, the two leading candidates advance to a runoff held two weeks later.

Milanovic entered the second round with a strong advantage, reflecting the historic gap of approximately 30 percentage points between the two leading candidates — the largest since Croatia's independence in 1991, local media noted.

Ahead of the Sunday runoff, the latest polls had forecasted Milanovic's victory, with 62.5 percent of respondents expressing support for Milanovic compared to 27.8 percent for Primorac.

Milanovic, born in 1966, was elected president for the first time during the presidential runoff held five years ago. Prior to that, he served as a Croatian diplomat to the European Union and NATO, and he was Croatian prime minister from December 2011 to January 2016.

Some Western media labeled Milanovic as a NATO critic because he has opposed sending officers to participate in NATO training for Ukrainian soldiers. He has also said that the United States and NATO were engaged in a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine, and slammed Western sanctions on Russia as absurd and useless.

A Croatian president serves a five-year term and can seek re-election once.