it does seem so far that mr zoran milanovic is leading with 50.11% of the vote.re is the social democrats' headquarters in zagreb. let's now speak to viseslav raos, associate professor of comparative politics at the university of zagreb. hello and welcome to the programme. hello and welcome to the programme-— hello and welcome to the programme. tell programme. good evening. tell us what is _ programme. good evening. tell us what is unfolding _ programme. good evening. tell us what is unfolding tonight. . us what is unfolding tonight. should he win, what does this mean? ~ , , mean? well, he is winning, but robabl mean? well, he is winning, but probably not — mean? well, he is winning, but probably not in _ mean? well, he is winning, but probably not in the _ mean? well, he is winning, but probably not in the first - probably not in the first round. the latest results show him to be at 49% and we have over 96% of polling stations reporting already. this is a somewhat underwhelming result for the prime minister because their candidate was expected to win at least 25

an exit poll by croatia's national broadcaster has predicted its controversial incumbent zoran milanovic—tv said mr milanovic had won an estimated 51.48%, with his nearest rival trailing on 19.29. if this is accurate, it would mean he avoids a second round runoff. the politician, who has been compared to donald trump due to his populist style, is a critic of both the eu and nato. the azerbaijani president ilham aliyev has told state television that the passenger plane that crashed in kazakhstan, killing 38 people, was shot at from the ground in russian territory. but he added it was not intentional. the aircraft's black box flight recorder has now been sent to brazil for investigations. the russian leader, vladimir putin, has spoken to mr aliyev and apologised for what he called a "tragic incident" in russian airspace — but didn't go as far as admitting responsibility. president aliyev referred to mr putin's the apology but accused russia of covering up what happened. for more analysis of president aliyev�*s comment, here's the editor of bbc azerbaijani service, konul khalilova. very str

pro—russian politician zoran milanovic won just over 49% of the first round vote, whilst dragan primoracthe state electoral commission. viseslav raos is associate professor of comparative politics at the university of zagreb, and explained more. this is a somewhat underwhelming result for the prime minister and his party because their candidate was expected to win at least 20—25% of the vote in the first round. we can actually say that there is voter fatigue increase because this was the third election in the same year in creation, the european elections, the... elections and now presidential elections, which actually are second order elections, sometimesjust which actually are second order elections, sometimes just used to punish the government and this is what has happened tonight. i wouldn't say that the incumbent president is pro—russian, but he is definitely not on the same wavelength as the government on foreign policy and support for ukrainian war efforts. he is actually exploited the system his sentiments in a country where people think that support is too strong for ukraine and