Croatia votes after bitter PM-president fight

(ANSA-AFP) - ZAGREB, 17 APR - Croatia began voting in a parliamentary election on Wednesday after a bitter campaign between a prime minister seeking a new term and a populist president who wants to be head-of-government despite a court warning. The showdown between Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, a conservative, and President Zoran Milanovic, a left-wing populist, comes as the European Union nation wrestles with corruption, a labour shortage, the highest inflation rate in the eurozone and illegal migration. For months, Plenkovic and his ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) seemed poised for an easy victory that would secure his third term as premier. But in mid-March, Milanovic made the shock announcement that he would challenge Plenkovic and become candidate prime minister for the Social Democrats (SDP). Milanovic was prime minister shortly before Plenkovic and his role as president is largely ceremonial. (ANSA-AFP).