He has emerged as the main opponent of the favorite party in the elections. Milanovic last year rejected an offer from Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to train a limited number of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia.

The Croatian president maintains that that country is not part of NATO and, therefore, Croatia has no obligations towards it. Meanwhile, the prime minister accuses him of "Russianism" and acting like "a Kremlin official." "Milanovic uses opinion polls that suggest that around 70% of Croatians do not support Croatia's participation in the war. His conclusion is that the United States fights Russia through Ukraine," indicates an analyst. "And he will also be in favor of the 'Croatian first' policy towards the EU. He is ready to veto EU decisions if they do not satisfy the interests of Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina,' he reflects. The latest polls predicted that Plenkovic's conservative HDZ could obtain around 60 of the 151 seats (compared to 66 in the last elections). The coalition led by the social democrat SDP would obtain between 44 and 45 seats, at least three more than in 2020. Third place would be occupied by the right-wing Homeland Movement, opposed to immigration (14 seats), and the environmentalists of Mozemo would come later with nine deputies. All polls rule out an absolute majority and anticipate the need to form a coalition government. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has governed the country for 26 of the last 33 years since the fall of Yugoslavia, between 1991 and 1992. The economy grew by 2.8% in 2023, more than double the average of the 27 EU countries (1.2%). While in the eurozone, average inflation was 2.9%, in Croatia it reached 5.4%, only surpassed by the Czech Republic (7.6%), according to Eurostat.