Today, Croatia elects her President. If you go by the real authority the Croatian President has, and it is that of a very expensive potted plant, a rather insignificant event. Of course, in the best local political tradition, the entire thing, campaign especially, has been turned into an amusing farce. Thirteen candidates, from the current president Stipe Mesic and the popular Government minister Jadranka Kosor, to a leader of a Hare Krishna cult and a stupid, arrogant, stupid university student (why do young people in this country try so hard to create a public image of stupidity and incompetence?) who doesn't even know what the President of the Republic is. As one journalist wrote, two candidates and a folklore group. The worst thing is, the entire circus costs the tax-payers some $11M per round (two are possible). Enough money to run a school for almost 9 years (or 18, if there are two rounds), so the most important decision the voters can make is how much of their money is to be wasted.

BBC, however, thinks differently. According to them, these elections will decide the direction the country will take in its approach to the European Union, because the main fight will be fought between the current, pro-Western president Mesic, and the conservative (the way they say it, I suppose they mean xenophobic and nationalist) candidate Kosor. It seems they're wrong on both counts. First, the President, our the most democratic institution, doesn't have the powers to decide the colour of the walls in his office, let alone the foreign policy; despite of what the Constitution says, that's really the Prime Minister's and the Government's domain. Second, if the exit polls are to be believed, the second round, if, carrot forbid, it comes to that, will be between the current president and an outsider nobody took seriously, Boris Miksic. An unexpected and heavy blow that would be to the ruling party... If that really happens, it would be interesting if Miksic won in the end. He's a successful American businessman, has spent almost a million of his own dollars for the campaign, and I really, really can't understand his motives for trying to get into the Croatian politics. Can it be that he's simply crazy?

Be as it may, I shan't be holding my breath, or lose any sleep waiting for the results. Whoever wins, nothing will change.