Croatia's President Cruises to Victory

Stipe Mesic, the last president of Yugoslavia, cruised to victory in Croatia's presidential election yesterday, securing a second five-year term and dealing a second big blow in 10 days to the centre-right government.

Mr Mesic, 70, who spent much of his first term trying to rehabilitate Croatia internationally following the nationalist extremism of his predecessor, the late Franjo Tudjman, coasted to a second round run-off victory against Jadranka Kosor, a deputy prime minister and the candidate of the governing party, the HDZ or Croatian Democratic Union created by Tudjman.

First projections after the polls closed last night gave Mr Mesic 65% to Ms Kosor's 28%, an outcome likely to be welcomed by western diplomats who see the centre-left incumbent as a valuable counterweight to the HDZ government of the prime minister, Ivo Sanader.

Mr Sanader, a conservative, has sought to rein in the excesses of his nationalist party in his year in power and to make EU and Nato membership the focus of his policies.

He was dealt a heavy blow 10 days ago, however, when his foreign minister, Miomir Zuzul, resigned following a series of corruption scandals.

Mr Sanader threw his weight behind Ms Kosor's attempt to wrest the presidency from the popular Mr Mesic.

She only narrowly survived into the second round, avoiding the humiliation of being kicked out of the contest thanks to the votes of nationalist diaspora Croats, mainly in Bosnia, where widespread rigged voting was discovered.