Opposition candidate Milanovic leads in Croat presidential race -preliminary results

The Socialist Democrats' candidate and former prime minister Zoran Milanovic leads in the first round of Croatia's presidential election, the State Electoral Commission said in its preliminary results on Sunday.

After 29% of votes counted, Milanovic got 32% of the votes ahead of incumbent center-right president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic with 28%. An independent candidate Miroslav Skoro, a popular singer with conservative nationalist-leaning voters is third with 21.8% of votes.

The first two out of 11 candidates will go to a run-off on Jan. 5, 2020.