In the video, Josip Dabro can be seen in the passenger seat chatting, laughing and singing along to loud music, before picking up a pistol and shooting through an open window into the dark.

Dabro, who represents hard-right nationalist party Homeland Movement, said the video was several years old and that he fired training bullets.

It is the latest incident to trouble Croatia’s coalition – formed in May 2024 – with the government calling Dabro’s behaviour “inappropriate and irresponsible”.

In a resignation statement posted on Facebook, Dabro, who was also minister for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said that he did not want to be a distraction to the government.

He said he had been subjected to “significant pressure and threats” over plans to reform the department.

The footage was made public earlier in the week.

Dabro’s party is in a coalition government with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.

Last November, Health Minister Vili Bros was sacked ahead of a corruption investigation.

On Monday, Zoran Milanovic was re-elected president for a second term, winning almost three-quarters of votes cast ahead of opponent Dragan Primorac, who was backed by the HDZ party.

After the result, Plenkovic said that “Milanovic offers nothing” and declined to congratulate him. Presidents in Croatia fulfil a largely ceremonial role.

Milanovic won more than 74 percent of the vote, with his opponent Dragan Primorac securing nearly 26 percent, with more than 90 percent of the votes counted.

Milanovic , an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine against Russia, won 49.1 percent of the vote during the contest’s first round two weeks ago – narrowly missing an outright victory.

The 58-year-old leader entered the contest with surging momentum as he faced off against Primorac, who managed to garner 19.35 percent of the votes. Primorac, 59, is backed by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, which has governed the former Yugoslav republic since it declared independence in 1991.

The election comes as the EU and NATO member country of 3.8 million people struggles with biting inflation, corruption scandals and a labour shortage.

“Croatia, thank you,” Milanovic told his supporters.

“This is a big day for me personally, and I view this victory as recognition for my work, a kind of act of people’s trust in me.”

Earlier in the day, after casting his ballot in the capital Zagreb, Milanovic told reporters: “In the past five years I did my job in the best faith and I hope that people have seen that.”

Milanovic,  a former left-wing prime minister, took over the presidency in 2020 with the backing of the main opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Milanovic has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but has also criticised the West’s military support for Kyiv. His main rival has dubbed him “a pro-Russian puppet”.

He is popular and is sometimes compared with United States President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents.

The leader has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and the pair have long sparred with each other.

The incumbent president regularly accuses Plenkovic and his conservative HDZ party of systemic corruption, calling the prime minister a “serious threat to Croatia’s democracy”.

Croatia’s presidential powers are limited, but a win by Milanovic would be a setback for the HDZ and Plenkovic.

An elected president in Croatia holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander. Many believe the presidential position is key for the political balance of power.

Primorac entered politics in the early 2000s when he was the science and education minister in the HDZ-led government. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2009, and after that mainly focused on his academic career, including lecturing at universities in the US, China and Croatia.

Milanovic denied he is pro-Russian, but last year blocked the dispatch of five Croatian officers to NATO’s mission in Germany, called Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.

He also pledged he would never approve sending Croatian soldiers as part of any NATO mission to Ukraine. Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.

Milanovic has accused Primorac of associating with “mass murderers”, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates and the war in Gaza.

Polling stations opened on Sunday at 7am local time (06:00 GMT) and would close at about 7pm (18:00 GMT), with exit polls expected minutes later.

Milanovic, an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine against Russia, won 49.1 percent of the vote during the contest’s first round two weeks ago – narrowly missing an outright victory.

The 58-year-old leader entered the contest with surging momentum as he faced off against Dragan Primorac, who managed to garner 19.35 percent of the votes. Primorac, 59, is backed by the HDZ party, which has governed the former Yugoslav republic since declaring independence in 1991.

The election comes as the European Union and NATO member country of 3.8 million people struggles with biting inflation, corruption scandals and a labour shortage.

Milanovic a former left-wing prime minister, took over the presidency in 2020 with the backing of the main opposition Social Democrats (SDP) party.

Milanovic condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but has also criticised the West’s military support for Kyiv. His main rival has dubbed him “a pro-Russian puppet”.

He is very popular and is sometimes compared with United States President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents.

The 58-year-old has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and the pair have long sparred with each other.

The incumbent president regularly accuses Plenkovic and his conservative HDZ party of systemic corruption, calling the prime minister a “serious threat to Croatia’s democracy”.

Croatia’s presidential powers are limited, but a win by Milanovic would be a setback for the HDZ and Prime Minister Plenkovic.

An elected president holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander. Many believe the presidential position is key for the political balance of power.

Primorac entered politics in the early 2000s when he was the science and education minister in the HDZ-led government. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2009, and after that mainly focused on his academic career, including lecturing at universities in the US, China and Croatia.

Milanovic denied he is pro-Russian but last year blocked the dispatch of five Croatian officers to NATO’s mission in Germany called Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine.

He also pledged he would never approve sending Croatian soldiers as part of any NATO mission to Ukraine. Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.

Milanovic accused Primorac of associating with “mass murderers”, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates and the war in Gaza.

Preliminary results from Sunday’s voting showed that based on results from nearly 52 percent of polling stations, Milanovic, the opposition Social Democratic Party’s candidate, was winning 50.1 percent of the votes, far ahead of his main challenger, Dragan Primorac, the candidate of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), with 22.3 percent.

An exit poll conducted by Ipsos on Sunday also showed Milanovic, 58, was set to win.

About 3.8 million Croats were eligible to vote from among eight candidates. The post of president is mostly ceremonial.

Under Croatia’s electoral system, a candidate must secure at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off. The election will go to a second round on January 12 if none of the candidates wins a majority.

During his five-year term, which expires on February 18, Milanovic, a former prime minister, has clashed with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic over foreign and public policy and has fiercely criticised the European Union and NATO over their support for Ukraine.

Three children were taken to hospital following the incident in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, on Friday. They are now “out of danger”, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said.

The alleged attacker, a 19-year-old man and former pupil, was arrested near the scene. He is also being treated for self-inflicted injuries.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was “horrified” by the incident at Precko Elementary School, in the west of the city.

Photographs from the scene show police officers, ambulance staff and forensic teams outside the building.

Health Minister Irena Hrstic told reporters outside a children’s hospital that the attacker had entered the school before stabbing staff and pupils.

A total of five people were hospitalised following the incident, she added.

Bozinovic said the suspect had a history of mental health issues and that the police had “stopped him from committing suicide”.

He added the man initially fled the scene and locked himself inside a room at a nearby health centre, before being detained.Parents at the school spoke of panic as they searched for their children.

“It’s disastrous that when I rushed into the school, I had no information regarding my child’s whereabouts, no one was willing to provide any details,” Marko Palada told Reuters.

Croatia will observe a day of mourning on Saturday because of the attack.