Croatians will choose their next president in a run-off vote between a law professor from the main opposition Social Democrats and the populist mayor of Zagreb, first-round results showed yesterday.

Ivo Josipovic of the Social Democrats (SDP) garnered 32.44 percent of the vote, more than double the score of Milan Bandic, who took 14.84 percent, according to nearly completed results.

"I call all voters to cast ballots for justice, a better and more rightful Croatia, for the light and not for the darkness," in the January 10 run-off, Josipovic said after results from Sunday's vote were announced.

The 52-year-old legal expert and classical music composer ran his campaign under the slogan "Justice for Croatia", insisting on the need to fight corruption.

Bandic, his rival in the run-off, is a former SDP veteran who largely avoided confrontation during the campaign, arguing he was a "man of deeds and not of words."

Ruling party plagued by scandals

"Croatia needs a different president... a decisive and competent president whom no party could influence," the 54-year-old said Monday.

Andrija Hebrang of the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) failed to make the run-off, coming in third, with 12.01 percent of the vote.

Observers blamed this partly on the dispersion of the party's votes between Hebrang and two party dissidents, but also on a series of corruption scandals involving HDZ officials.

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, who is also HDZ president, said her party would not back anyone in the run-off.

"We do not have a candidate that we would recommend to our supporters in the second round," she said.

Music composer vs conservative mayor

Bandic, whose conservative viewpoint in any case sat uneasily with his previous party affiliation, was expelled from the SDP after announcing he would run as an independent.

Although Josipovic won the first round with a significant lead over Bandic, the powerful Zagreb mayor could still overhaul him by attracting right-wing voters and some SDP supporters.

But although some analysts say Josipovic lacks charisma, they also argue that his untarnished political career works in his favour.

Bandic has been the target of corruption allegations in the capital, which he has run since 2000.

Pro-European policies

Bandic may however win the support of the powerful Roman Catholic Church to which he belongs, as well as that of Croatians living in neighbouring Bosnia, where he was born.

Analysts however seemed to think the outgoing president, Stipe Mesic, was coming out in favour of Josipovic in an interview on Croatian national radio on Monday, when he called for pro-European policies.

"I would rather support policies that continue Croatia's 'Europeanisation', that establish standards and criteria required by the European Union," said Mesic, who stands down in February after two five-year terms.

Mesic declined to name who he would back in the forthcoming poll, but made it clear that he wanted to see the drive towards EU membership continue.

Josipovic and the Social Democrats are traditionally seen in the eyes of public opinion as more pro-European and more liberal than Bandic.

Democratic transition

Mesic, a 75-year-old centrist, is credited with helping transform the former Yugoslav republic from a nationalist autocracy into a parliamentary democracy, curbing the president's powers.

While succeeding in getting Croatia into the NATO military alliance earlier this year, the country's ambitions to join the European Union were stalled by a border dispute with neighbouring Slovenia, which is already an EU member.

Zagreb is now unlikely to join the 27-member bloc before 2012.

- AFP