Croatian presidential election, 2010
Encyclopedia
The first round of the fifth presidential election in Croatia
was held on Sunday, December 27, 2009, with twelve candidates participating. The second round between first-round winner Ivo Josipović
and first-round runner-up Milan Bandić
was held on Sunday, January 10, 2010. Ivo Josipović won a landslide victory receiving 60.3% of the vote becoming the first elected president nominated by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia
(SDP).
The incumbent president
Stjepan Mesić
was ineligible for re-election, so many candidates took the opportunity to vie for position of the head of state
(the highest political office in the country, although in Croatia, a parliamentary republic
, the role of president is largely ceremonial and the Prime Minister - Head of Government - wields most power). Most mainstream Croatian political parties participated in the election either by nominating a candidate or endorsing one, but major party official candidates alone did not dominate the campaign. The relatively low nomination threshold (ten thousand signatures in a country of four million voters), turmoil in the largest political party (Croatian Democratic Union
, HDZ) due to the departure of long-time leader Ivo Sanader
and the ongoing economic crisis, as well as a significant one-man revolt in the second-largest party (Social Democratic Party of Croatia
, SDP), caused the first round of this election to field the largest number of candidates so far.
In the first election round, the voting body left of centre generally preferred three to four candidates, while the voting body right of centre generally split between five and six candidates. Because of the general left-leaning trend and increased fragmentation on the right, two candidates who were incidentally both long-time members of SDP came on top. The election polls accurately predicted the winner, while the runner-up projections were usually within a statistical margin of error, lifting many candidates' hopes and enabling a sense of drama stirred by the Croatian media.
The second election round was marked by somewhat more intense polarization, as it was to be expected in a two-way race. The Bandić campaign shifted their political message significantly to the right and kept attacking the opponent, as the Josipović campaign was put on the defense. However, a sudden reappearance of Sanader interrupted the election and cemented Josipović's advantage. In the end, Josipović won with a large margin.
Ivo Josipović was inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of Croatia on February 18, 2010.
After serving two consecutive five-year terms, the incumbent president
Stjepan Mesić
was not eligible to run in the 2009 election.
The elections officially began on 4 November, with the start of the period for the collecting of signatures needed to become an official candidate. Each candidate had 12 days to collect 10,000 written signatures from citizens who are eligible to vote. After the 12 days expired, the signatures were verified and on November 18 the State Electoral Commission announced the 12 candidates that managed to collect the necessary amount of signatures. The next day the official 37-day campaign began and went until 24 hours before Election Day, which happened to be Christmas Day, midnight.
The first round was held on 27 December and no candidate managed to obtain 50% + one vote
, so a second round was held on 10 January 2010 between the two candidates that achieved the most votes, Ivo Josipović
and Milan Bandić
. Each candidate could have withdrawn from the election at any time.
The governing HDZ
saw considerable drama in selecting their candidate for president. Ever since late 2008, there was much speculation that prime minister Ivo Sanader
would run for the presidency, although he frequently denied such speculation. After the local elections
, the speculation grew as no other candidates publicly hinted they would run. However, Ivo Sanader unexpectedly decided not only to not run for the presidency, but to resign as prime minister and retire from active politics altogether, announcing his decision on 1 July 2009.
Sanader nominated Andrija Hebrang
as the party's candidate for president, a decision that was backed by the remainder of the party's presidency after a while, but not before widespread rumours started about the HDZ member Nadan Vidošević
, a prominent businessman, being the presidency's favorite candidate. Vidošević however rejected these claims. Hebrang also hesitated before accepting the party nomination, explaining it with health reasons. Vidošević formally announced his bid as an independent candidate on September 2, and was expelled from his party soon after that. Also, Ivo Sanader was not the only member of the cabinet to resign as Minister of Education Dragan Primorac
also announced his retirement on the very same day as the prime minister. There was much speculation that Primorac resigned as he was not his party's candidate for president and that he resigned so he could run as an independent. The speculation proved to be true and Primorac announced his candidacy on 9 November 2009. He was then also ejected from HDZ membership.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia
also saw some controversy in the process of nominating a candidate. Immediately after the 2009 local elections
and Milan Bandić
's landslide victory in Zagreb
as a candidate of the Social Democrats, there was much talk of his potential candidacy for president. Before the election, many influential members of SDP urged Zoran Milanović
, the president of the party, to intervene and nominate someone other than Bandić, referring to numerous corruption and malversation allegations made against him during his tenure as the mayor of Zagreb. However, Milanović denied the widespread rumours about internal turmoil and publicly supported Milan Bandić in the mayoral campaign, making him the target of an open letter signed by many prominent left-wing intellectuals, in which they attacked Bandić and endorsed Josip Kregar
. Although Milanović dismissed these charges, SDP conspicuously put Bandić at the bottom of the electoral list for the city council, which prompted further accusations of hypocrisy from their opponents.
On 20 June the SDP presidency chose two of their members of parliament as candidates for the SDP nomination: Ivo Josipović
, a law professor and known jurist, and Ljubo Jurčić
, an economics professor and former Minister of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship. Other candidates were allowed to be submitted, however, Milan Bandić refused.
On 12 July a primary election
was held between the two social democrats and Ivo Josipović won with 64.78% of the vote from around ten thousand party members.
However, the 'Bandić problem' escalated in the coming months as the media continued to speculate about his potential candidacy. Bandić started to travel throughout Croatia without a stated common agenda, and the press followed his every step and constantly asked him if he would run for the presidency. He consistently refused to comment, drawing more and more media attention with his indecisiveness. Finally, the drama was concluded when he officially announced his candidacy for president in a speech on 5 November at 7 am on Sljeme
criticizing Zoran Milanović and his former party for turning against him saying that he was one of the founders of SDP emphasizing that he stood with the party through the good and the bad times. Bandić was automatically expelled from SDP
, losing his position as a member of party's presidency and leader of the Zagreb branch of SDP. Despite that, he declared on Croatian national television HRT
that he still finds himself as true Social Democrat and that he'll proudly keep his SDP membership card nr. 2.
By the time the nominations period started, most major political parties nominated their candidates for president:
The major independent candidates originating in the two largest parties are:
Several other candidates also had a history of association with major parties:
Political party candidates were selected within party elections, or were elected by party bodies, and they are the party's sole official candidates. All parliamentary parties have a policy to support only one candidate, and if their member announces an independent nomination, he or she automatically loses their party membership. Parliamentary parties that do not candidate their member for the president, usually publicly support someone. These parties can be listed on the electoral list for the president, but sometimes their support is just a public endorsement. Regional-right wing HDSSB
supported independent candidate Milan Bandić, and regional-centrist PGS supported independent Nadan Vidošević.
After the election, the Constitution
does not allow the President to be a member of any political party so he or she must resign from membership, if there is one.
collected more signatures than any other candidate with over 140,000, Ivo Josipović
was second with just under 120,000, Milan Bandić
collected around 60,000, Vesna Pusić
just under 50,000, while Dragan Primorac
and Nadan Vidošević
each collected over 30,000 signatures. At the beginning of the campaign, most polls showed Josipović with a healthy lead over his opponents. Although Hebrang held the second spot in most opinion polls during the summer, he fell to as low as fifth place by November. He claimed opinion polls have never been kind to his party as most conservative voters refuse to participate in them and expressed conviction that come Election Day he will be the victor. Despite Bandić's indecisiveness, he held second or third place in most polls during autumn. After he officially announced his campaign, most political observers expected him to get a bump in the polls, however that never materialized. After announcing his candidacy he continuously dropped in the polls, but still managed to claim second or third place. Nadan Vidošević led most polls during 2008 and early 2009, but never managed to take the lead after officially becoming a candidate.
Josipović based his campaign on the slogan 'Justice for Croatia' and kicked off his campaign with a rally in front of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. He attacked the current Croatian government and the prime minister Jadranka Kosor
for ignoring the needs of the little man and criticized her for not dealing with corruption. Andrija Hebrang started the campaign with patriotic rhetoric with the slogan 'For a proud and European Croatia'. He praised Jadranka Kosor and her policies, mostly criticizing Dragan Primorac and Nadan Vidošević for abandoning their party, calling them deserters and traitors of their party. He argued that he offered Primorac and Vidošević an opportunity to settle the question of who will be their party's nominee for president through a primary challenge stating that they both refused.
Nadan Vidošević used his knowledge of economic issues to gain popularity during the recession. He emphasized his business success during the 1990s as well as his post as the president of the Croatian Economic Chamber (CEC). However, the press continuously raised the subject of his estate and property and how was he able to amass such an enormous wealth in a short period of time. He usually responded saying that everything he has he built with hard work and smart business moves. On 9 December Dragan Primorac accused Vidošević of nepotism, claiming that he employed three of his nephews in the CEC and that his secretary was related to him. Vidošević responded by saying he does not need someone who hits women teaching him moral lessons referring to allegations made to Primorac long ago which claimed he beat his former partner. Primorac accused Vidošević of lying and threatened a lawsuit if he did not apologize to him and his wife. During a debate held on 10 December Primorac and Vidošević exchanged insults, Vidošević repeating his allegations and Primorac demanding an apology. Finally, on 14 December Primorac announced he will be pressing charges against Vidošević claiming he caused great emotional damage to him and especially his wife. Vidošević responded by saying Primorac would do anything to gain attention saying his campaign was falling apart.
Milan Bandić avoided most debates saying he was a man of work, not of words. Most political pundits, however, thought he was afraid of confronting the other candidates as he usually tends to perform badly in debates. He based his campaign on the message that he was just one of the people, not an intellectual, but an ordinary hardworking patriot. Vesna Pusić heavily emphasized her gender in the campaign claiming it was time for a woman to make it to Pantovčak
. Most commentators noticed she made the biggest change of image during the campaign out of all candidates claiming she lost her strict appearance of a professor becoming more accessible and open about her personal life. She based her campaign on her liberal and pro-European positions as well as her foreign policy experience.
The presentation of candidates on national television is customarily a contentious issue, with minor candidates complaining of lack of coverage and the major candidates complaining about dilution of campaign on fringe issues. Croatian Radiotelevision
, as the public television operator, is legally obliged to give each candidate equal airtime, and they all got a half-hour interview in the late prime-time political show "Otvoreno". There were three televised debates held in the first round. The first was held on 20 November on HRT
with 10 candidates present. Andrija Hebrang and Boris Mikšić
refused to attend claiming they were discriminated on all national television networks
. The second was held on 10 December on Nova TV hosted by Mislav Bago. Five candidates that were ahead in the polls were present, Ivo Josipović, Nadan Vidošević, Andrija Hebrang, Dragan Primorac and Vesna Pusić. Milan Bandić refused to attend. The main topics were the fight against corruption, the economy and the European Union
. A poll conducted after the debate showed Vesna Pusić won the debate with 30% of those polled responding she did best, with Ivo Josipović coming in second with 26%. The poll also showed Ivo Josipović was the most specific in his answers with Vesna Pusić following closely. The audience considered Nadan Vidošević the most likable and Andrija Hebrang the most entertaining. The final debate was once again held on HRT on 22 December and was the first and only one with all 12 candidates present. The main topics of discussion were campaign spending, corruption and the suggestion of removing political immunity. There were four debates planned with the final one to be held on Nova TV on 23 December with six major candidates to be present. However, the six candidates behind in the polls objected saying they were discriminated by Nova TV, particularly Josip Jurčević
who threatened to sue the television station and filed a complaint against it to the country's electoral commission. Finally, Nova TV canceled the scheduled debate and called for the change of Croatia's laws concerning media coverage of presidential campaigns.
The first set of statistics were reported by the candidates before the final week of the campaign. The final amounts were reported to the DIP with the final deadline of January 25, 2010, and have been reported in Narodne novine
.
In addition to the input statistics, two Croatian NGOs GONG (an association that oversees elections, whose name used to mean ) and Transparency International
Hrvatska have decided to hire a media analysis agency which calculated the amount of money that was necessarily spent on advertising on television, radio and print media. They point out that this is only the observable media spending, while they estimate actual cost to be in excess of twice the amount spent on the media.
All numbers apart from votes are in Croatian kuna
s.
, referring among other things to claims by Dragan Primorac that Bandić was the favorite of the former prime minister. Bandić denied the rumors, however the following day the media published a story claiming that Bandić and Sanader had a secret lunch that very day in a Zagreb restaurant. Bandić denied the rumors calling the journalists who published the story liars, saying the media's favorite is Josipović and that they would do anything to discredit him.
On Monday 28 December, the first day of the runoff campaign, the incumbent president
Stjepan Mesić
indicated that he supports Ivo Josipović to be his successor. He praised his manifesto and said Croatia needs a president working actively against corruption and for justice. He also insulted Milan Bandić saying it was impossible he only spent 3 million kuna for the campaign saying he knows how much a campaign costs. He pled for more transparency and called on him to release the names of those who were really financing his campaign. Bandić responded by saying that Mesić hasn't released the names of his donors to this day and that he was a part of both of his campaigns so he knows how nontransparent they were. Mesić called Bandić a liar saying he was the only one in those days to release the name of every single person who contributed to his victory. He said his campaign reports were published, on Croatian, not English, clearly referring to the fact that Bandić couldn't speak proper English. He also suggested there could be one debate held entirely in English, mocking Bandić since he previously claimed he speaks the language. Bandić responded saying he would be glad to attend that debate only if Mesić was moderating it, referring to the fact that the president himself was also not an English speaker. He also called the president an 'old man' saying it was only natural he forgot about the help he provided him during his two campaigns.
On 29 December Josipović gave a speech on an SDP convention held in Rijeka
where he said that with the following presidential election the political map of Croatia would change forever and that by the next parliamentary election
Croatia would be colored red, referring to his party's official colour being red. Bandić did not waste time and the next day attacked Josipović arguing that the next president should not be biased once again repeating his claim that Josipović is nothing more than a pawn of Zoran Milanović who would work in his benefit if he should win. The prime minister Jadranka Kosor
also criticized Josipović's remarks as unfitting.
The first two second-round debates were held on the same evening, 30 December, the first on HRT
starting a couple of minutes after 8 p.m., and the second on Nova TV starting a couple of minutes before 10 p.m. During the debates Josipović emphasized his untarnished political carrier as well as his knowledge of the law and the Constitution
. He defended himself from attacks made by Bandić earlier in the week that he was one of those responsible for writing criminal indictments against Croatia's generals during the war
, denouncing the claims as flat-out lies, saying that he offered legal aid to captured Croatian soldiers during the war.
The most direct attack by Bandić on Josipović came at the very end of the first debate when he accused him of damaging the city of Zagreb in 1998 by allegedly abusing his position as the head of the oversight board of a savings bank Zlatica to make a series of financial maneuvers that enabled him to collect his deposit of 138,000 Deutsche Marks from the bank Komercijalna banka that had been blocked and later went bankrupt. Bandić cited a court ruling from 2006 that had invalidated those maneuvers. Josipović defended himself saying that was merely a civil case which he was not even a part of and that he did not commit any illegal actions. Josipović also had to defend his damaging quotation
that Croatia would be coloured red by the next election, saying that it was only natural for a political party to be ambitious saying he does not consider the remarks to be unfitting repeating once again that, if elected, he would be the president of all citizens.
The issue of whom Ivo Sanader supports unexpectedly escalated when Sanader announced he was returning to active politics at a Sunday, January 3 press conference, which resulted in a blitz uproar among the coalition partners, and subsequently his ejection from the HDZ party. President Mesić attacked Bandić saying the former prime minister returned to support him, trying to once again link Bandić to the most unpopular politician in the country. Bandić denied such claims calling them lies and distractions and once again accused Josipović of being a pawn of Zoran Milanović. At the same time, Bandić's ally Željko Kerum
publicly stated that Ivo Sanader would be an "ideal president", but afterwards he backtracked somewhat, while repeating his well-known attitude on how the media is biased against him and Bandić.
Milan Bandić heavily used religion as an issue in the campaign, calculating that Josipović's agnosticism
would be a turn-off for a largely Catholic
country as Croatia. He constantly repeated the only one he fears is God and that he was raised as a true believer and a humble Christian
, also making claims that he has the support of the Catholic Church. Josipović largely ignored Bandić's attempts saying he would be the president of all Croatians no matter their religious beliefs. The incumbent president Stjepan Mesić was elected twice despite his atheism
. However, the Bandić campaign used all tactics to force the issue, even distributing fliers in front of churches after the Sunday mass across the country urging believers to choose between the cross and a red star, referencing communism.
Eventually, Josipović responded to the other side's discrediting tactic
s based on religion as well as the savings fund affair by raising the issue of how Bandić had divorced his wife in 1996 and because of that managed to buy out another apartment from the government with a discount, claiming Bandić violated the most sacred sacrament of marriage with the intent of making profit. Bandić responded in outrage saying he went through great emotional pain during his divorce saying Josipović was not a man unless he apologized.
On 3 January the third debate took place, hosted by RTL Televizija
. The main topics were the return of former prime minister Ivo Sanader to the political scene, the economy, taxes and foreign relations, especially with Slovenia
. Bandić once again repeated he was a man of work who would do anything for the people, while Josipović demonstrated his knowledge of law and foreign policy. On the next day, the results of a second set of election polls were published, showing Bandić made some gains, but Josipović's support was mostly unchanged.
The Josipović campaign released a list of 20 Croatian generals who allegedly supported him in the second round. This endorsement was subsequently used in campaign advertisements by Josipović. One of these generals, Nojko Marinović, denied any participation in the endorsement, calling it a "coarse manipulation".
Petar Janjić-Tromblon was also listed and he released a statement denying his support, saying he "doesn't want to be part of their games". The name of Tihomir Blaškić was also floated in the media in this context. Josipović was confronted about it during the third debate, and he claimed that the disavowals were made because of peer pressure.
The Bandić campaign also released their own list of associations of Croatian defenders who allegedly supported him in the second round, including the Association of the 105th Brigade of the Croatian National Guard
, but the war-time commander of the 105th Brigade of the Croatian Army Stjepan Ivanić came forward to state that their association was both named and listed wrongly and said that their members were "appalled by the disinformation".
The Bandić campaign created a negative campaign television ad that used a recording of Josipović's words, but after the Josipović campaign complained, the State Election Committee banned it as a violation of campaign rules, while Bandić campaign complained of censorship. They eventually released a modified version of the same ad, just avoiding the use of Josipović's own voice.
The January 7 debate on Nova TV was held at 21:45, moderated once again by Mislav Bago. The two candidates had a somewhat more intense exchange regarding most issues previously discussed in the campaign. They once again compared tenure in the League of Communists of Croatia
and SDP, their personal properties as well as moral values. Josipović called on Bandić to compare their physical and stock properties in court, which the latter refused. There was some talk of endorsements, and some reflections on talking point
s. They finished in a more cordial tone with the mention of future private visits as well as family pets.
The last debate occurred on January 8 on HRT, moderated by Branimir Bilić. Most common topics were covered once again, ending with some larger themes of international politics such as global warming and the inequality of the third world.
Zvonimir Vrančić who first endorsed him but later disclaimed official support, and also to the HDZ branch of Makarska
which also retracted their support under threat of sanction.
The Catholic Church in Croatia
claimed that they're neutral in this; the Croatian Bishops' Conference
states that they never endorse anyone. But, there are some signs of subtle pro-Bandić attitude: Croatian archbishop Josip Bozanić
was visited by Milan Bandić in the Archbishop's office on January 2. The editor of the official church gazette Glas Koncila
Ivan Miklenić, otherwise known as a vocal critic of President Mesić, did not endorse any candidate and instead expressed disappointment with both candidates, but later made statements that were interpreted to favor Bandić. During the campaign, numerous minor violations related to Church members were observed by GONG, in favor of Bandić.
Many first-round candidates endorsed the second-round candidates, but some made public statements regarding the second round but did not endorse. Dragan Primorac
made several public statements - he initially tried to stay completely neutral, but later released one where he listed some characteristics of the future president that he would want, without naming a candidate, but focusing on the fight against corruption. The reception was mixed – Večernji list
said he chose no one, while Jutarnji list
said that he chose Josipović, reading between the lines. The Josipović campaign later decided to include Primorac in their endorsement list and Primorac did not seem to come forward with a public rebuttal. On the other hand, Josip Jurčević
made a late public statement telling voters to void their ballot.
All numbers apart from votes are in Croatian kuna
s.
's history with only 43.96% of all the citizens eligible to vote participating in the election compared to 50.57% five years ago and 62.98% ten years ago. Most political observers noted the public's increasing distrust in politicians and the political system as the main reason for the low turnout.
Nationwide, Ivo Josipović obtained 32% and Milan Bandić 14%, meaning the two of them combined achieved less support than Stjepan Mesić did in 2005
in the first round only. The fact that there were only three actual left-leaning candidates meant the left was relatively united under Josipović, while the votes of the right were spread out on several prominent candidates, including Bandić, which was one of the reasons why no right wing candidate managed to qualify for a run-off. As such, this election became historic as a run-off would feature two candidates once in the same party, Josipović, who rejoined SDP
a year before the election, and Bandić, who left SDP a month before the election so he could run as an independent.
The candidate of the governing centre-right
Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) Andrija Hebrang came in third with 12% of the vote, a result noticeably better than most polls had predicted, but still seen by many as a debacle for HDZ as he achieved the lowest ever result for the party on a national level and also became their first presidential candidate not to secure a second round since Mate Granić
in 2000
. Nadan Vidošević, who was seen by many as a front-runner for the presidency in the beginning of the year, came in fourth with 11% of the vote. Dragan Primorac was the third prominent right-wing candidate who invested huge sums in his campaign, but in the poll he achieved only 6%, lower than what many polls had predicted. Primorac was indeed surpassed even by the centre-left candidate Vesna Pusić who was fifth, obtaining 7.25%.
No other candidate achieved more than 5% on a national level. Left-wing Damir Kajin made a decent showing in his home county, but was nevertheless surpassed by the right-wing Miroslav Tuđman in the overall tally. Slavko Vukšić's final number of votes was even smaller than the number of signatures that originally supported his nomination.
Josipović carried all 21 counties
except for two, the Lika–Senj County which was carried by Andrija Hebrang and the Istria County
carried by Damir Kajin. He also won the all major cities including the capital of Croatia, Zagreb
, a sort of embarrassment for Bandić who is the mayor of the city. Bandić had won the Zagreb local elections, 2009
with almost 150,000 votes just seven months prior, but with a turnout of 41.69%/33.62% and under the SDP banner. This time he won only some 59,000 votes or 15.64% in Zagreb, with a local turnout of 52.40%.
winning 32%. The polls showed Milan Bandić, Andrija Hebrang and Nadan Vidošević in a statistical tie with each of them achieving 14%, 12% and 11% respectively. Andrija Hebrang's third place was seen as a great success as most opinion polls before the first round showed him with only single-digit approval, while Nadan Vidošević's placing was seen as a disappointment since most polls before the vote showed him battling for second place with Milan Bandić. The polls predicted Vesna Pusić and Dragan Primorac would be the only other candidates to pass 5% with each of them collecting 7% and 5% respectively. In 2007
, during the parliamentary election, all exit polls predicted SDP would narrowly win, when in the reality HDZ turned out as the victor. With that in mind, Andrija Hebrang expressed conviction that when actual results were published, he would overtake Bandić and qualify for second round. He claimed that exit polls do not take into account the votes coming from the citizens living abroad and that conservative voters do not participate in exit polls as much as liberal voters. However, the exit polls predicted the outcome almost perfectly as the country's electoral commission's results later confirmed.
Ivo Josipović gave a short speech after the exit polls were announced saying he was confident the official results would match the results they predicted. After the official results were published, he gave a victory speech shortly after midnight thanking his
colleagues and especially his voters for their support and expressed conviction he would be the victor once again two weeks later. He said the citizens of Croatia have a choice between the light and the dark, with him being the light, referring to his untarnished political record, and Bandić being the dark, referring to his allegations of corruption. Milan Bandić arrived to his campaign headquarters just a couple of minutes before midnight and just a couple of minutes after the results were announced he gave his speech. He congratulated all the other candidates and said a new race began that night. He said he would be an independent president, not a remote-control of Zoran Milanović
and accused Josipović of being a project of the highest ranking members of SDP. He claimed Croatia needs a president that works for them, not for his party. While he was speaking, most television networks were showing scenes from Josipović headquarters in the corner, with Milanović observing Bandić's remarks. During the middle of his speech, right when Bandić was bashing his former party and its leader, Josipović came to the stage and all television stations switched to hear what he had to say.
Andrija Hebrang accused his party's dissidents, Vidošević and Primorac, as well as most right-wing candidates for 'stealing' his votes saying the result was that two left-wingers would face-off in the second round. Despite this, he called the election a great victory of the right claiming that right-leaning candidates combined achieved better results that left-leaning candidates combined. In making this assertion, he failed to consider Bandić as left-leaning, and ignored Vidošević's appeal to the left-leaning voters as well. Vidošević conceded defeat saying that one should never blame his failures on others, but himself. He urged the public to continue believing in a better tomorrow saying that Croatia should be a country of knowledge and justice, not of corruption and divisiveness. Pusić gave a short teary speech calling Croatia a country with a lot of potential with only the right leadership. She also noted that no government would ever be able to win without the support of HNS. Primorac said he would be forming a new party which would be independent from both HDZ and SDP and said he saw a bright future for Croatia.
This election night also saw great drama with the war of the television networks
. Nova TV and RTL Televizija
organized the exit polls together and offered HRT
to participate, however HRT refused claiming they were unaware exit polls would be permitted as electoral silence lasted until midnight. HRT showed the results of the exit polls during their prime-time news show Dnevnik
. Nova TV and RTL Televizija objected and demanded HRT to pay for distributing their polls.
, but 10 percentage points less than 10 years ago
and the lowest turnout for a runoff presidential election ever.
Nationwide, Ivo Josipović achieved 1,339,385 votes, or 60.26%, while Milan Bandić won 883,222 votes, or 39.74%. Most polls before the election were showing Josipović with a hefty double-digit lead, but never as much as 20 percentage points as he achieved during the election. The difference between the two candidates came as a surprise to many pundits and analysts for two reasons: the polls usually favor the more liberal candidate since left-leaning voters tend to participate in opinion polls more than conservative voters; and the fact that most polls before the election didn't include the votes from the citizens living abroad, which was expected to be a strong boost for Bandić come Election Day. Nevertheless, the final result is similar to the result of the last several polls when only the certain voters were taken into account, which may indicate that few undecided voters actually went to the polls in the second round.
Josipović won all Croatian counties
except for the Lika-Senj county
, the least populated Croatian county. Similarly, he won all cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants and all cities that are county seats, except for Gospić
, which is also the smallest. The capital city Zagreb was also won by Josipović, with a margin that was slightly higher than the national average. Bandić was unsuccessful in the majority of Zagreb boroughs, but he did win Lika and the extraterritorial electoral unit, where the majority of votes came from Bosnia and Herzegovina
. The closest margins were in the traditional right-wing strongholds in parts of Slavonia and Dalmatia.
According to the exit polls Josipović won more than 90% of Vesna Pusić's voters and 70% of Nadan Vidošević's voters. He also managed to consolidate the traditionally centre-left
voters winning 90% of his party's
as well as more than 80% of HNS voters and more than 70% of the centrist HSLS
and centre-right
HSS
voters, at the same time appealing to every fourth HDZ
voter. Bandić won almost 80% of all Hebrang voters as well as 57% of Primorac's voters and obtained 3 quarters of all HDZ voters, confirming the assumption that Bandić mostly appealed to the right.
The result was not received particularly well by the Church gazette Glas Koncila
editor Ivan Miklenić, who stated Josipović's legitimacy, but first pointed out that he was elected by less than a third of the total population, and claimed that he was supported by "obscure power centers". He concluded that the election is the result of a policy of continuation and "not a democratic breakthrough". The secular Jutarnji list
editor Davor Butković lambasted that opinion, saying he was personally a Catholic but was offended by the notion that the Church would undermine the election result. Having a third of the electorate's votes is not relevant because not even the late Franjo Tuđman or even any single Government was ever elected with more than a half of the electorate. He concluded by asking why the Church is "insulting its faithful who voted for Josipović" and saying that as long as this kind of a stance persists, the Croatian churches will "remain empty other than on major holidays". The secular Večernji list
chief commentator Milan Ivkošić once again called on Josipović to stay away from former President Mesić's "selective finger-pointing" which in his opinion particularly impacted the President's relations with Kaptol
, in addition to a perceived "complaisance in the defence of Croatian national interests". He also noted that the new President remains "marked" by his agnosticism in relation to the right-wing voting body, but called on the Croatians to determine a basic consensus and avoid any accusations of "treason". Josipović indeed explicitly stated that he "will not step into that whole polemic" and that he has no comment.
and Nova TV published the results of the exit polls conducted by Ipsos PULS
. They predicted a landslide win for Josipović, giving him an advantage of almost 30 percentage points, significantly larger than all of the second-round polls. This shifted much of the political commentary and rendered much of the expected drama moot. The Josipović headquarters started celebrating immediately after the polls closed claiming that the difference is too large for Bandić to overcome and the exit polls don't feature such a large statistical margin of error. The Bandić campaign said they'll wait for official results, but admitted it would be very hard for Bandić to overtake Josipović's 30 point lead even when the votes from abroad were tallied. The exit polls predicted the outcome well as the ratio between the two candidates was 9 to 1 for Bandić abroad, where there were no exit polls, which narrowed Josipović's victory to a final difference of 21 percentage points.
After the official results were announced at midnight it was evident that Ivo Josipović was elected the third president of the Republic. He gave a victory speech shortly after thanking everybody who voted for him, but also saying he would be the president of all, not just the left. He called his victory a step in the right direction and said he would work hard for justice and a better Croatia. Josipović did not finish his acceptance speech before Bandić started his concession speech, using the opportunity to decry "hate, contempt and intolerance from everyone" towards him.
The Bandić self-victimization was ultimately not well received by both the voters and the media.
During election night, Milanović gave an interview to the three major television networks where he congratulated Ivo Josipović and called on Jadranka Kosor
to hold a meeting with him where they would discuss the major political differences between their two parties and find a way to agree on how to help the economy further. The prime minister responded the very same night when she congratulated Josipović saying she invited the opposition leader for a coffee over six months ago claiming he refused. Milanović responded the next day by saying he doesn't want finger-pointing, but a constructive discussion about jobs, the budget and tax reform. They came to an agreement the following week and they held a meeting on 21 January.
Although HRT
admitted they crossed the line two weeks ago when they reported the results of the exit polls conducted by RTL and Nova TV, they once again 'borrowed' the results for the second round election night. This caused a stir within HRT against the main editor of the news program Hloverka Novak-Srzić who was faced with scandals long before the election night incident. Finally, exactly nine days after the election, on 19 January, she was released of her duties as chief editor.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
was held on Sunday, December 27, 2009, with twelve candidates participating. The second round between first-round winner Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
and first-round runner-up Milan Bandić
Milan Bandic
Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of...
was held on Sunday, January 10, 2010. Ivo Josipović won a landslide victory receiving 60.3% of the vote becoming the first elected president nominated by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
(SDP).
The incumbent president
President of Croatia
The President of Croatia , officially styled the President of the Republic represents the Republic of Croatia in the country and abroad as the head of state, maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government system, and safeguards the independence and...
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
was ineligible for re-election, so many candidates took the opportunity to vie for position of the head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
(the highest political office in the country, although in Croatia, a parliamentary republic
Parliamentary republic
A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. There are a number of variations of...
, the role of president is largely ceremonial and the Prime Minister - Head of Government - wields most power). Most mainstream Croatian political parties participated in the election either by nominating a candidate or endorsing one, but major party official candidates alone did not dominate the campaign. The relatively low nomination threshold (ten thousand signatures in a country of four million voters), turmoil in the largest political party (Croatian Democratic Union
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
, HDZ) due to the departure of long-time leader Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
and the ongoing economic crisis, as well as a significant one-man revolt in the second-largest party (Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
, SDP), caused the first round of this election to field the largest number of candidates so far.
In the first election round, the voting body left of centre generally preferred three to four candidates, while the voting body right of centre generally split between five and six candidates. Because of the general left-leaning trend and increased fragmentation on the right, two candidates who were incidentally both long-time members of SDP came on top. The election polls accurately predicted the winner, while the runner-up projections were usually within a statistical margin of error, lifting many candidates' hopes and enabling a sense of drama stirred by the Croatian media.
The second election round was marked by somewhat more intense polarization, as it was to be expected in a two-way race. The Bandić campaign shifted their political message significantly to the right and kept attacking the opponent, as the Josipović campaign was put on the defense. However, a sudden reappearance of Sanader interrupted the election and cemented Josipović's advantage. In the end, Josipović won with a large margin.
Ivo Josipović was inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of Croatia on February 18, 2010.
Background and rules
President of Croatia
The President of Croatia , officially styled the President of the Republic represents the Republic of Croatia in the country and abroad as the head of state, maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government system, and safeguards the independence and...
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
was not eligible to run in the 2009 election.
The elections officially began on 4 November, with the start of the period for the collecting of signatures needed to become an official candidate. Each candidate had 12 days to collect 10,000 written signatures from citizens who are eligible to vote. After the 12 days expired, the signatures were verified and on November 18 the State Electoral Commission announced the 12 candidates that managed to collect the necessary amount of signatures. The next day the official 37-day campaign began and went until 24 hours before Election Day, which happened to be Christmas Day, midnight.
The first round was held on 27 December and no candidate managed to obtain 50% + one vote
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
, so a second round was held on 10 January 2010 between the two candidates that achieved the most votes, Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
and Milan Bandić
Milan Bandic
Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of...
. Each candidate could have withdrawn from the election at any time.
Campaign before the official start
Although officially the campaign started on 19 November, in reality it began as early as summer of 2009. The main political parties had not yet announced their nominees for president in the summer, but certain high-ranking politicians had expressed their interest in running very early.The governing HDZ
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
saw considerable drama in selecting their candidate for president. Ever since late 2008, there was much speculation that prime minister Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
would run for the presidency, although he frequently denied such speculation. After the local elections
Croatian local elections, 2009
The 2009 Croatian local elections were held on 17 May, with the second round held on 31 May where necessary.The elections were held to elect members of city councils, mayors, members of county councils and county prefects. These were the first elections in which mayors and county prefects were...
, the speculation grew as no other candidates publicly hinted they would run. However, Ivo Sanader unexpectedly decided not only to not run for the presidency, but to resign as prime minister and retire from active politics altogether, announcing his decision on 1 July 2009.
Sanader nominated Andrija Hebrang
Andrija Hebrang (son)
Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament...
as the party's candidate for president, a decision that was backed by the remainder of the party's presidency after a while, but not before widespread rumours started about the HDZ member Nadan Vidošević
Nadan Vidošević
Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of...
, a prominent businessman, being the presidency's favorite candidate. Vidošević however rejected these claims. Hebrang also hesitated before accepting the party nomination, explaining it with health reasons. Vidošević formally announced his bid as an independent candidate on September 2, and was expelled from his party soon after that. Also, Ivo Sanader was not the only member of the cabinet to resign as Minister of Education Dragan Primorac
Dragan Primorac
Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation...
also announced his retirement on the very same day as the prime minister. There was much speculation that Primorac resigned as he was not his party's candidate for president and that he resigned so he could run as an independent. The speculation proved to be true and Primorac announced his candidacy on 9 November 2009. He was then also ejected from HDZ membership.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
also saw some controversy in the process of nominating a candidate. Immediately after the 2009 local elections
Zagreb local elections, 2009
On May 17, 2009, local elections were held in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.The incumbent mayor was Milan Bandić , a representative of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia , also the leading party in the previous city council....
and Milan Bandić
Milan Bandic
Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of...
's landslide victory in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
as a candidate of the Social Democrats, there was much talk of his potential candidacy for president. Before the election, many influential members of SDP urged Zoran Milanović
Zoran Milanovic
Zoran Milanović is a Croatian politician, leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia , the main opposition party.- Early life :...
, the president of the party, to intervene and nominate someone other than Bandić, referring to numerous corruption and malversation allegations made against him during his tenure as the mayor of Zagreb. However, Milanović denied the widespread rumours about internal turmoil and publicly supported Milan Bandić in the mayoral campaign, making him the target of an open letter signed by many prominent left-wing intellectuals, in which they attacked Bandić and endorsed Josip Kregar
Josip Kregar
Josip Kregar is a Croatian lawyer and politician. Kregar is a tenured professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb and an independent representative in the Zagreb City Council , currently the deputy president of the Council...
. Although Milanović dismissed these charges, SDP conspicuously put Bandić at the bottom of the electoral list for the city council, which prompted further accusations of hypocrisy from their opponents.
On 20 June the SDP presidency chose two of their members of parliament as candidates for the SDP nomination: Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
, a law professor and known jurist, and Ljubo Jurčić
Ljubo Jurcic
Ljubo Jurčić is a Croatian economist, current president of the Croatian Association of Economists since 2006 and former Croatian Minister of the Economy ....
, an economics professor and former Minister of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship. Other candidates were allowed to be submitted, however, Milan Bandić refused.
On 12 July a primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
was held between the two social democrats and Ivo Josipović won with 64.78% of the vote from around ten thousand party members.
However, the 'Bandić problem' escalated in the coming months as the media continued to speculate about his potential candidacy. Bandić started to travel throughout Croatia without a stated common agenda, and the press followed his every step and constantly asked him if he would run for the presidency. He consistently refused to comment, drawing more and more media attention with his indecisiveness. Finally, the drama was concluded when he officially announced his candidacy for president in a speech on 5 November at 7 am on Sljeme
Šljeme
Šljeme is a village in the municipality of Ilijaš, Bosnia and Herzegovina.-References:...
criticizing Zoran Milanović and his former party for turning against him saying that he was one of the founders of SDP emphasizing that he stood with the party through the good and the bad times. Bandić was automatically expelled from SDP
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
, losing his position as a member of party's presidency and leader of the Zagreb branch of SDP. Despite that, he declared on Croatian national television HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
that he still finds himself as true Social Democrat and that he'll proudly keep his SDP membership card nr. 2.
By the time the nominations period started, most major political parties nominated their candidates for president:
- The governing Croatian Democratic UnionCroatian Democratic UnionThe Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
nominated Andrija HebrangAndrija Hebrang (son)Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament...
, a former vice-president of the Croatian governmentGovernment of CroatiaThe Government of the Republic of Croatia , commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government , is the main element of the executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the President of the Government , commonly abbreviated to premier...
and former Minister of Health and Social Services. - The main opposition party SDPSocial Democratic Party of CroatiaSocial Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
nominated Ivo JosipovićIvo JosipovićIvo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
, a Professor of Law at the University of ZagrebUniversity of ZagrebThe University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, a lecturer at the Zagreb Musical Academy and an SDP MP. - The Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats nominated Vesna PusićVesna PusicVesna Pusić is a member of Croatian Parliament and one of the main speakers of the opposition Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats in the Parliament...
, the head of the parliamentary committee in charge of overseeing the negotiation process of Croatia and the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. - The Istrian Democratic AssemblyIstrian Democratic AssemblyThe Istrian Democratic Assembly is a Croatian regional and social liberal political party in Istria. The hyphenated abbreviation IDS-DDI is most commonly used....
nominated Damir KajinDamir KajinDamir Kajin is a Croatian politician. He is a representative in the Croatian Parliament with the Istrian Democratic Assembly.He lives in Buje....
, their longtime representative in the Croatian ParliamentParliament of CroatiaThe Parliament of Croatia or the Sabor is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia and legislature of the country. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, represents the people and is vested with the legislative power...
.
The major independent candidates originating in the two largest parties are:
- Nadan VidoševićNadan VidoševićNadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of...
, the president of the Croatian Economic Chamber, formerly in HDZ - Milan BandićMilan BandicMilan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of...
, mayor of ZagrebZagrebZagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, formerly in SDP - Dragan PrimoracDragan PrimoracDragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation...
, former Minister of Education, formerly in HDZ
Several other candidates also had a history of association with major parties:
- Vesna Škare Ožbolt, former Minister of JusticeMinistry of Justice (Croatia)The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia is the ministry in the Government of Croatia which is in charge of prosecuting government cases and the administration of institutions falling within the scope of the judiciary system ....
, switched from HDZ to DCDemocratic CentreThe Democratic Centre is a Croatian political party.The Party was formed in 2000 by Mate Granić and Vesna Škare-Ožbolt after they left the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union following the party's defeat in the January 2000 election and Mate Granić's defeat in the February 2000 presidential race...
in 2000 - Miroslav TuđmanMiroslav TuđmanMiroslav Tuđman is a Croatian scientist and politician, the son of first president Franjo Tuđman.Tuđman was born in Belgrade where he completed grade school, before he moved with his family to Zagreb in 1961.He was born on his parents 1st anniversary...
, former head of Central Intelligence Service, formerly in HDZ in 1990s
Political party candidates were selected within party elections, or were elected by party bodies, and they are the party's sole official candidates. All parliamentary parties have a policy to support only one candidate, and if their member announces an independent nomination, he or she automatically loses their party membership. Parliamentary parties that do not candidate their member for the president, usually publicly support someone. These parties can be listed on the electoral list for the president, but sometimes their support is just a public endorsement. Regional-right wing HDSSB
Croatian Democratic Assembly of Slavonija and Baranja
Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja is a regionalist and right wing populist political party in Croatian region of Slavonia....
supported independent candidate Milan Bandić, and regional-centrist PGS supported independent Nadan Vidošević.
After the election, the Constitution
Constitution of Croatia
The current Constitution of the Republic of Croatia was adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on December 22, 1990. It replaced the Constitution of 1974 ratified in socialist Yugoslavia...
does not allow the President to be a member of any political party so he or she must resign from membership, if there is one.
First round candidates
Out of 19 persons who submitted signatures to the State Electoral Commission, 13 of them were regular, but one of them withdrew. The following 12 candidates ran for Sunday, December 27, 2009, presidential elections.| Candidate | Party affiliation | Political remarks | Proof of nomination | Web site | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... |
Independent | member of SDP until nomination, running as an independent candidate a populist platform | Submitted around 60,000 received signatures to the electoral commission on November 13. | milanbandic.com | |
 |
Andrija Hebrang Andrija Hebrang (son) Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament... |
Croatian Democratic Union Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003... |
centre-right platform | Submitted around 140,600 received signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | hebrang.com |
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
centre-left platform focusing on justice | Submitted around 117,000 received signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | josipovic.net | |
| Josip Jurčević Josip Jurčević Josip Jurčević is a Croatian politician and historian.He grew up in Zagreb. In the 1970s he studied among other things, computer science, theology, Marxism, and economics... |
Independent | a right wing platform | submitted 14,000 signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | josip-jurcevic.net | |
| |
Damir Kajin Damir Kajin Damir Kajin is a Croatian politician. He is a representative in the Croatian Parliament with the Istrian Democratic Assembly.He lives in Buje.... |
Istrian Democratic Assembly Istrian Democratic Assembly The Istrian Democratic Assembly is a Croatian regional and social liberal political party in Istria. The hyphenated abbreviation IDS-DDI is most commonly used.... |
left wing platform focusing on anti-fascism and anti-establishment | Submitted around 17,000 received signatures to the electoral commission on November 15. | damirkajin.org |
| |
Boris Mikšić Boris Mikšic Boris Mikšić is a Croatian businessman and politician.Mikšić was born in Zagreb, then part of SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in 1973... |
Independent | a right wing populist history | submitted 15,000 signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | borismiksic.net |
| Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation... |
Independent | member of the HDZ until nomination, centre-right and a platform focusing on corruption | Submitted around 35,000 received signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | draganprimorac.com | |
| Vesna Pusić Vesna Pusic Vesna Pusić is a member of Croatian Parliament and one of the main speakers of the opposition Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats in the Parliament... |
Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats | centre-left and liberal platform | Submitted around 47,000 received signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | predsjednica.com | |
 |
Vesna Škare Ožbolt | Independent | running as an independent on a centrist platform, supported by DC Democratic Centre The Democratic Centre is a Croatian political party.The Party was formed in 2000 by Mate Granić and Vesna Škare-Ožbolt after they left the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union following the party's defeat in the January 2000 election and Mate Granić's defeat in the February 2000 presidential race... |
submitted 18,000 signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | vesna.com.hr |
| |
Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman is a Croatian scientist and politician, the son of first president Franjo Tuđman.Tuđman was born in Belgrade where he completed grade school, before he moved with his family to Zagreb in 1961.He was born on his parents 1st anniversary... |
Independent | a right wing euro-sceptic platform | submitted 18,000 signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | miroslav-tudjman.com |
| |
Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of... |
Independent | until nomination member of HDZ, running as an independent on a centrist platform focusing on the economy | Submitted around 31,000 signatures until November 15. | nadanvidosevic.com |
| |
Slavko Vukšić Slavko Vukšić Slavko Vukšić is a Croatian politician and businessman. He is the leader of the minor regional political party the Democratic Party of Slavonia Plain .... |
Democratic Party of Slavonia Plain | regionalism | submitted 12,500 signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. | slavkovuksic.com |
Valid candidates that withdrew
- Veljko Džakula, the leader of a non-governmental organization Serbian Democratic Forum, entered the race and became a candidate of three Croatian Serb parties: Serb People's PartySerb People's Party (Croatia)Serb People's Party is a political party that represents ethnic Serb minority in Croatia.The party was founded in early 1991 by ethnic Serb politicians opposed to the radical and secessionist policies of Republic of Serbian Krajina. As the conflict in Croatia escalated, SNS quickly found itself in...
, Democratic Party of Serbs and New Serb Party (Nova srpska stranka). He submitted 10,557 signatures to the electoral commission on November 16. However, he then withdrew on November 17.
Failed candidacies
- Stjepan Gnječ, representing the Economy Party (Gospodarska stranka) submitted 33,060 blank signature forms and was rejected.
- Dean Golubić announced an independent candidacy on a far rightFar rightFar-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
platform. He announced his withdrawal on 16 November. - Sead Hasanović, better known as Braco Cigan, from Željko MalnarŽeljko MalnarŽeljko Malnar is a Croatian maverick traveller, writer and a minor television celebrity, best known for his own weekly show Nightmare Stage and his satirical micronation the Republic of Peščenica. He lives and works in Zagreb.-Biography:In last 45 years he has traveled the Middle East, Pakistan...
's TV-show Nightmare StageNightmare StageNightmare Stage , was a late night talk show on Croatian TV station Z1 hosted by maverick traveller and author Željko Malnar....
, ran as an independent candidate. He submitted around 6,000 signatures and was rejected. - Stjepan Kravarščan submitted only one signature to the electoral commission on November 13 and was rejected.
- Zahir Kurbašić was nominated by the Women's Democratic PartyWomen's Democratic PartyWomen's Democratic Party is a women's rights political organization founded in Zagreb in 2004. Party aims to represent the interests and concerns of women. The party allows male members....
but failed to ensure an official candidature. - Denis LatinDenis LatinDenis Latin is a Croatian television host born on 14 February 1966 in Šibenik.He begun to work on HRT in 1987 and two years later, in 1989, he graduated from Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. In 1990 he became the announcer of Dnevnik, the daily news program on HRT, and with the age of 24 was...
, a popular Croatian TV journalist, announced his independent candidacy on a liberal platform, but after several months he changed his mind. - Slobodan Midžić submitted no signatures to the electoral commission saying that he "seeks to represent a president of the SFR Yugoslavia for the election of the president of the European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
". Madžić had also failed to nominate himself for 2007 parliamentary elections since his electoral list held the name of League of Communists of YugoslaviaLeague of Communists of YugoslaviaLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia , before 1952 the Communist Party of Yugoslavia League of Communists of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Savez komunista Jugoslavije/Савез комуниста Југославије, Slovene: Zveza komunistov Jugoslavije, Macedonian: Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na...
, the party that does not exist. - Marija Štrajh, Croatian television host
- Jurica Tucak was the second person who came before electoral commission without signatures.
- Alka VuicaAlka VuicaAlka Vuica is a popular Croatian singer and songwriter. Her musical style can be described as a mixture of pop, folk and Latin.Vuica entered the Croatian presidential election, 2009–2010...
, a popular singer and songwriter, supported by Green List of CroatiaGreen List of CroatiaThe Green List is a green political party in Croatia. It was created in 2005 for local elections for Zagreb Assembly. It was firstly named Greens for Zagreb . At the local elections in May 2009, the party won 14 mandates in Zagreb's city quarters and five in other local councils...
– received around 8,000 signatures reporting that 1485 of her signatures were stolen and that she was offered to buy the rest of the missing votes. She subsequently withdrew her nomination. - Božidar Vukasović announced an independent candidacy running on an anti-corruptionPolitical corruptionPolitical corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
platform. He announced his withdrawal on 16 November.
First round
The official campaign began on 19 November as the country's electoral commission announced the 12 candidates eligible to run. Andrija HebrangAndrija Hebrang (son)
Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament...
collected more signatures than any other candidate with over 140,000, Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
was second with just under 120,000, Milan Bandić
Milan Bandic
Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of...
collected around 60,000, Vesna Pusić
Vesna Pusic
Vesna Pusić is a member of Croatian Parliament and one of the main speakers of the opposition Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats in the Parliament...
just under 50,000, while Dragan Primorac
Dragan Primorac
Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation...
and Nadan Vidošević
Nadan Vidošević
Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of...
each collected over 30,000 signatures. At the beginning of the campaign, most polls showed Josipović with a healthy lead over his opponents. Although Hebrang held the second spot in most opinion polls during the summer, he fell to as low as fifth place by November. He claimed opinion polls have never been kind to his party as most conservative voters refuse to participate in them and expressed conviction that come Election Day he will be the victor. Despite Bandić's indecisiveness, he held second or third place in most polls during autumn. After he officially announced his campaign, most political observers expected him to get a bump in the polls, however that never materialized. After announcing his candidacy he continuously dropped in the polls, but still managed to claim second or third place. Nadan Vidošević led most polls during 2008 and early 2009, but never managed to take the lead after officially becoming a candidate.
Josipović based his campaign on the slogan 'Justice for Croatia' and kicked off his campaign with a rally in front of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. He attacked the current Croatian government and the prime minister Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor is a Croatian politician and former journalist. She is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on July 6, 2009, following the sudden resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader. She is Croatia's first female Prime Minister since independence.-Early life:Jadranka...
for ignoring the needs of the little man and criticized her for not dealing with corruption. Andrija Hebrang started the campaign with patriotic rhetoric with the slogan 'For a proud and European Croatia'. He praised Jadranka Kosor and her policies, mostly criticizing Dragan Primorac and Nadan Vidošević for abandoning their party, calling them deserters and traitors of their party. He argued that he offered Primorac and Vidošević an opportunity to settle the question of who will be their party's nominee for president through a primary challenge stating that they both refused.
Nadan Vidošević used his knowledge of economic issues to gain popularity during the recession. He emphasized his business success during the 1990s as well as his post as the president of the Croatian Economic Chamber (CEC). However, the press continuously raised the subject of his estate and property and how was he able to amass such an enormous wealth in a short period of time. He usually responded saying that everything he has he built with hard work and smart business moves. On 9 December Dragan Primorac accused Vidošević of nepotism, claiming that he employed three of his nephews in the CEC and that his secretary was related to him. Vidošević responded by saying he does not need someone who hits women teaching him moral lessons referring to allegations made to Primorac long ago which claimed he beat his former partner. Primorac accused Vidošević of lying and threatened a lawsuit if he did not apologize to him and his wife. During a debate held on 10 December Primorac and Vidošević exchanged insults, Vidošević repeating his allegations and Primorac demanding an apology. Finally, on 14 December Primorac announced he will be pressing charges against Vidošević claiming he caused great emotional damage to him and especially his wife. Vidošević responded by saying Primorac would do anything to gain attention saying his campaign was falling apart.
Milan Bandić avoided most debates saying he was a man of work, not of words. Most political pundits, however, thought he was afraid of confronting the other candidates as he usually tends to perform badly in debates. He based his campaign on the message that he was just one of the people, not an intellectual, but an ordinary hardworking patriot. Vesna Pusić heavily emphasized her gender in the campaign claiming it was time for a woman to make it to Pantovčak
Presidential Palace, Zagreb
The Presidential Palace in Zagreb is the official residence of the President of Croatia. The president does not actually live in the building as it is used to house the Office of the President of Croatia rather than as a residence. The structure covers and in 2009 government budget, it was...
. Most commentators noticed she made the biggest change of image during the campaign out of all candidates claiming she lost her strict appearance of a professor becoming more accessible and open about her personal life. She based her campaign on her liberal and pro-European positions as well as her foreign policy experience.
The presentation of candidates on national television is customarily a contentious issue, with minor candidates complaining of lack of coverage and the major candidates complaining about dilution of campaign on fringe issues. Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
, as the public television operator, is legally obliged to give each candidate equal airtime, and they all got a half-hour interview in the late prime-time political show "Otvoreno". There were three televised debates held in the first round. The first was held on 20 November on HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
with 10 candidates present. Andrija Hebrang and Boris Mikšić
Boris Mikšic
Boris Mikšić is a Croatian businessman and politician.Mikšić was born in Zagreb, then part of SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in 1973...
refused to attend claiming they were discriminated on all national television networks
Television in Croatia
Television in Croatia was first introduced in 1956.- Main channels :- Terrestrial :Source: Croatian Post and Electronic Telecommunications Agency,Odašiljači i veze d.o.o.* Dubrovačka televizija - from Dubrovnik, broadcast for the city...
. The second was held on 10 December on Nova TV hosted by Mislav Bago. Five candidates that were ahead in the polls were present, Ivo Josipović, Nadan Vidošević, Andrija Hebrang, Dragan Primorac and Vesna Pusić. Milan Bandić refused to attend. The main topics were the fight against corruption, the economy and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. A poll conducted after the debate showed Vesna Pusić won the debate with 30% of those polled responding she did best, with Ivo Josipović coming in second with 26%. The poll also showed Ivo Josipović was the most specific in his answers with Vesna Pusić following closely. The audience considered Nadan Vidošević the most likable and Andrija Hebrang the most entertaining. The final debate was once again held on HRT on 22 December and was the first and only one with all 12 candidates present. The main topics of discussion were campaign spending, corruption and the suggestion of removing political immunity. There were four debates planned with the final one to be held on Nova TV on 23 December with six major candidates to be present. However, the six candidates behind in the polls objected saying they were discriminated by Nova TV, particularly Josip Jurčević
Josip Jurčević
Josip Jurčević is a Croatian politician and historian.He grew up in Zagreb. In the 1970s he studied among other things, computer science, theology, Marxism, and economics...
who threatened to sue the television station and filed a complaint against it to the country's electoral commission. Finally, Nova TV canceled the scheduled debate and called for the change of Croatia's laws concerning media coverage of presidential campaigns.
Endorsements
- Milan Bandić
- Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja (HDSSB)
- List of known athletes and people from show business including: Iva MajoliIva MajoliIva Majoli Marić is a former professional tennis player from Croatia. She upset Martina Hingis to win the women's singles title at the French Open in 1997. Majoli also won eight singles titles and one women's doubles title during her career.-Career:Majoli turned professional in 1991 at the age...
, Sanja JovanovićSanja JovanovicSanja Jovanović is a female backstroke swimmer from Croatia, who made her Olympic debut for her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. There she competed in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, where she finished in 17th and 13th position...
, Vlado ŠolaVlado ŠolaVlado Šola is a retired Croatian team handball player. He was born in Prisoje, near Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and his family moved to Croatia when he was young....
, Rade ŠerbedžijaRade ŠerbedžijaRade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
, Boris NovkovićBoris NovkovicBoris Novković is a Croatian pop singer. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the former Yugoslavia, his interest in a musical career was cultivated by his family background, with a mother who taught music, and a father, Đorđe Novković, who was a leading Croatian songwriter and music manager...
and Mia Begović
- Ivo Josipović
- Josip KregarJosip KregarJosip Kregar is a Croatian lawyer and politician. Kregar is a tenured professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb and an independent representative in the Zagreb City Council , currently the deputy president of the Council...
, independent member of Zagreb city assembly and former candidate for Mayor of Zagreb - Ankica Lepej, Croatian most notable and first known "whistleblowerWhistleblowerA whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
" - List of various public figures and intellectuals, including: Josipa LisacJosipa LisacJosipa Lisac is an eminent female singer.-Biography:During the 1960s she was a vocalist of the group named Zlatni Akordi...
, Goran Bare, Kemal MontenoKemal MontenoKemal Monteno is a popular Bosnian singer-songwriter. He was born to an Italian father and a Bosniak mother. He recorded his first song Lidija in 1967 and has enjoyed a prosperous career in the former Yugoslavia...
, Vesna TeršeličVesna TeršelicVesna Teršelič is a peace activist who founded the Anti-War Campaign of Croatia. In 1998, she was joint recipient of the Right Livelihood Award along with Katarina Kruhonja of the Centre for Peace, Non-violence and Human Rights, Osijek....
, Marijan Ban, The Beat FleetThe Beat FleetThe Beat Fleet, also known by initialism TBF, is a rap-rock band from Split, Croatia, founded in 1990. Members of the band are: Mladen Badovinac , Luka Barbić , Aleksandar Antić , Ognjen Pavlović , Nikša Mandalinić, , Janko Novoselić .The Beat Fleet are widely considered to be one of the...
, Nikša BratošNikša BratošNikša Bratoš is a Bosnian musician who gained fame in former Yugoslavia. He is known for having played in bands Valentino and Crvena jabuka. He has worked on songs for a variety of Croatian pop artists.-Biography:...
and Damir UrbanDamir UrbanDamir Urban is a popular Croatian musician best known for his work as a singer/songwriter for Laufer and for his solo work with his band 4.-Early years:... - Emma BoninoEmma BoninoEmma Bonino is an Italian politician, former Member of the European Parliament and current Member of the Italian Senate. She is a leading member of the Italian Radicals, a political party that supports economic and social libertarianism, and human rights...
- Josip Kregar
- Vesna Pusić
- Slavko Goldstein, prominent Croatian-Jewish intellectual and publisher
- Columnists and journalists: Boris Pavelić (Novi listNovi listNovi list is the oldest Croatian daily newspaper published in Rijeka. It is most read in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County of Croatia....
), Miljenko JergovićMiljenko JergovicMiljenko Jergović is a Bosnian prose writer. Jergović currently lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia, having moved there in 1993....
(writer and Jutarnji listJutarnji listJutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2...
columnist), Tomislav Klauški (Index.hrIndex.hrIndex.hr is an internet-only Croatian daily tabloid launched in November 2002 and based in Zagreb. The news site covers politics, business, sports, show business, and features columns covering everything from gossip to political commentary....
journalist) - European liberals: Emil KirjasEmil KirjasEmil Kirjas is a Macedonian politician. He is secretary-general of Liberal International in London. He is a former President of the International Federation of Liberal Youth , a position which he occupied since Autumn 2003...
, Roman Jakič (ZaresZaresZares – Social Liberals is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Its president is Gregor Golobič, former Secretary General of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and former close advisor to the late Janez Drnovšek, who had previously abandoned active political involvement due to...
MEP), Annemie Neyts-UyttebroeckAnnemie Neyts-UyttebroeckAnne-Marie Cécile J. Neyts-Uyttebroeck is a Belgian politician andMember of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.She is for the... - Be Active, Be Emancipated (B.a.B.e.), Croatian feminist and human rights organization
- Greens of Croatia
- Dragan Primorac
- Croatian Party of RightsCroatian Party of RightsThe Croatian Party of Rights is a right-wing political party in Croatia. The "right" in the party's name refer to the idea of Croatian national and ethnic rights that the party has vowed to protect since its founding in the 19th century...
(HSP)
- Croatian Party of Rights
- Vesna Škare-Ožbolt
- Democratic CentreDemocratic CentreThe Democratic Centre is a Croatian political party.The Party was formed in 2000 by Mate Granić and Vesna Škare-Ožbolt after they left the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union following the party's defeat in the January 2000 election and Mate Granić's defeat in the February 2000 presidential race...
(DC)
- Democratic Centre
- Nadan Vidošević
- Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar (PGS)
- Miroslav Tuđman
- Zdravko TomacZdravko TomacZdravko Tomac is a Croatian politician.A native of Slavonski Brod, Zdravko Tomac began his political career in Communist Party of Yugoslavia. There he rose through the ranks, becoming close associate of Jakov Blažević...
- Marko Perković Thompson
- Venio Losert
- List of academics and colleagues including: Jelena Perčin, Dubravko Jelčić, Slavica Dodig, Ksenija Komadina, Josip PečarićJosip PečarićJosip Pečarić is a Croatian Academician, mathematician and the professor of mathematics at the University of Zagreb, Croatia...
- Hrvoje HitrecHrvoje HitrecHrvoje Hitrec is a Croatian writer and politician. He is notable for his works for children and youth, most famous of his works being Smogovci, but he also wrote novels, film and TV scripts, dramas...
- Zdravko Tomac
Expense summary
By Croatian law all presidential candidates are required to publicly disclose the amount they have raised and spent throughout the official campaign. They submit it through a standardized form to the State Election Committee .The first set of statistics were reported by the candidates before the final week of the campaign. The final amounts were reported to the DIP with the final deadline of January 25, 2010, and have been reported in Narodne novine
Narodne novine
Narodne novine is the official gazette of the Republic of Croatia which publishes laws, regulations, appointments and official decisions and releases them in the public domain...
.
In addition to the input statistics, two Croatian NGOs GONG (an association that oversees elections, whose name used to mean ) and Transparency International
Transparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
Hrvatska have decided to hire a media analysis agency which calculated the amount of money that was necessarily spent on advertising on television, radio and print media. They point out that this is only the observable media spending, while they estimate actual cost to be in excess of twice the amount spent on the media.
All numbers apart from votes are in Croatian kuna
Croatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
s.
| Candidate (Party) | Amount raised - until December 19 (DIP) |
Amount spent - until December 20 (GONG) |
Amount spent on HRT Croatian Radiotelevision Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite... - total |
Total amount spent (DIP) | Votes | Average spent per vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrija Hebrang (HDZ) | 4,703,778 | 1,833,881 | 619,512 | 6,379,846 | 237,998 | 26.8 | |
| Nadan Vidošević (I) | 4,422,100 | 2,800,924 | 1,607,440 | 6,823,266 | 223,892 | 30.5 | |
| Milan Bandić (I) | 3,865,551 | 5,275,338 | 4,149,785 | see second round expense summary | |||
| Dragan Primorac (I) | 3,787,000 | 4,176,064 | 1,314,518 | 3,853,407 | 117,154 | 32.9 | |
| Boris Mikšić (I) | 2,928,767 | 31,053 | 156,456 | 3,247,163 | 41,491 | 78.3 | |
| Ivo Josipović (SDP) | 2,866,648 | 1,792,131 | 645,345 | see second round expense summary | |||
| Vesna Pusić (HNS-LD) | 1,914,870 | 236,921 | 211,343 | 1,977,725 | 143,190 | 13.8 | |
| Miroslav Tuđman (I) | 1,084,000 | 51,077 | 345,517 | 1,000,279 | 80,784 | 12.4 | |
| Vesna Škare Ožbolt (I) | 1,035,000 | 121,485 | 157,462 | 1,057,345 | 37,373 | 28.3 | |
| Damir Kajin (IDS) | 479,900 | 62,937 | 191,326 | 590,624 | 76,411 | 7.7 | |
| Slavko Vukšić (I) | 217,000 | undisclosed | 31,980 | refused to submit information | 8,309 | N/A | |
| Josip Jurčević (I) | 133,000 | 20,144 | 71,955 | 171,700 | 54,177 | 3.2 | |
Second round
Immediately after the official results were published shortly after midnight 28 December and it was clear the two candidates to face in a runoff would be Josipović and Bandić all the major candidates gave their speeches. Josipović called for voters to vote for the light, not for the dark, while Bandić insulted Josipović saying he was a pawn of Zoran Milanović and nothing more than his remote-control. The following morning the official campaign for the second round began. Josipović denied being an SDP project calling himself independent and accusing Bandić of being a remote-control of Ivo SanaderIvo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
, referring among other things to claims by Dragan Primorac that Bandić was the favorite of the former prime minister. Bandić denied the rumors, however the following day the media published a story claiming that Bandić and Sanader had a secret lunch that very day in a Zagreb restaurant. Bandić denied the rumors calling the journalists who published the story liars, saying the media's favorite is Josipović and that they would do anything to discredit him.
On Monday 28 December, the first day of the runoff campaign, the incumbent president
President of Croatia
The President of Croatia , officially styled the President of the Republic represents the Republic of Croatia in the country and abroad as the head of state, maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government system, and safeguards the independence and...
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
indicated that he supports Ivo Josipović to be his successor. He praised his manifesto and said Croatia needs a president working actively against corruption and for justice. He also insulted Milan Bandić saying it was impossible he only spent 3 million kuna for the campaign saying he knows how much a campaign costs. He pled for more transparency and called on him to release the names of those who were really financing his campaign. Bandić responded by saying that Mesić hasn't released the names of his donors to this day and that he was a part of both of his campaigns so he knows how nontransparent they were. Mesić called Bandić a liar saying he was the only one in those days to release the name of every single person who contributed to his victory. He said his campaign reports were published, on Croatian, not English, clearly referring to the fact that Bandić couldn't speak proper English. He also suggested there could be one debate held entirely in English, mocking Bandić since he previously claimed he speaks the language. Bandić responded saying he would be glad to attend that debate only if Mesić was moderating it, referring to the fact that the president himself was also not an English speaker. He also called the president an 'old man' saying it was only natural he forgot about the help he provided him during his two campaigns.
On 29 December Josipović gave a speech on an SDP convention held in Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
where he said that with the following presidential election the political map of Croatia would change forever and that by the next parliamentary election
Next Croatian parliamentary election
The 2011 Croatian parliamentary election will be held on Sunday, December 4, 2011 to elect 151 members to the Croatian Parliament. This will be the 7th parliamentary election in Croatia since independence.-Background:...
Croatia would be colored red, referring to his party's official colour being red. Bandić did not waste time and the next day attacked Josipović arguing that the next president should not be biased once again repeating his claim that Josipović is nothing more than a pawn of Zoran Milanović who would work in his benefit if he should win. The prime minister Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor is a Croatian politician and former journalist. She is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on July 6, 2009, following the sudden resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader. She is Croatia's first female Prime Minister since independence.-Early life:Jadranka...
also criticized Josipović's remarks as unfitting.
The first two second-round debates were held on the same evening, 30 December, the first on HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
starting a couple of minutes after 8 p.m., and the second on Nova TV starting a couple of minutes before 10 p.m. During the debates Josipović emphasized his untarnished political carrier as well as his knowledge of the law and the Constitution
Constitution of Croatia
The current Constitution of the Republic of Croatia was adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on December 22, 1990. It replaced the Constitution of 1974 ratified in socialist Yugoslavia...
. He defended himself from attacks made by Bandić earlier in the week that he was one of those responsible for writing criminal indictments against Croatia's generals during the war
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
, denouncing the claims as flat-out lies, saying that he offered legal aid to captured Croatian soldiers during the war.
The most direct attack by Bandić on Josipović came at the very end of the first debate when he accused him of damaging the city of Zagreb in 1998 by allegedly abusing his position as the head of the oversight board of a savings bank Zlatica to make a series of financial maneuvers that enabled him to collect his deposit of 138,000 Deutsche Marks from the bank Komercijalna banka that had been blocked and later went bankrupt. Bandić cited a court ruling from 2006 that had invalidated those maneuvers. Josipović defended himself saying that was merely a civil case which he was not even a part of and that he did not commit any illegal actions. Josipović also had to defend his damaging quotation
Damaging quotation
A damaging quotation is a short utterance by a public figure used by opponents as a discrediting tactic. These utterances are often, but not always, taken out of context or otherwise changed to distort their original meaning...
that Croatia would be coloured red by the next election, saying that it was only natural for a political party to be ambitious saying he does not consider the remarks to be unfitting repeating once again that, if elected, he would be the president of all citizens.
The issue of whom Ivo Sanader supports unexpectedly escalated when Sanader announced he was returning to active politics at a Sunday, January 3 press conference, which resulted in a blitz uproar among the coalition partners, and subsequently his ejection from the HDZ party. President Mesić attacked Bandić saying the former prime minister returned to support him, trying to once again link Bandić to the most unpopular politician in the country. Bandić denied such claims calling them lies and distractions and once again accused Josipović of being a pawn of Zoran Milanović. At the same time, Bandić's ally Željko Kerum
Željko Kerum
Željko Kerum is a Croatian entrepreneur and politician. He ran for mayor of Split, Croatia in May 2009 and won 58.4% of the vote. He is also the owner of the Croatian supermarket chain Kerum....
publicly stated that Ivo Sanader would be an "ideal president", but afterwards he backtracked somewhat, while repeating his well-known attitude on how the media is biased against him and Bandić.
Milan Bandić heavily used religion as an issue in the campaign, calculating that Josipović's agnosticism
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
would be a turn-off for a largely Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
country as Croatia. He constantly repeated the only one he fears is God and that he was raised as a true believer and a humble Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, also making claims that he has the support of the Catholic Church. Josipović largely ignored Bandić's attempts saying he would be the president of all Croatians no matter their religious beliefs. The incumbent president Stjepan Mesić was elected twice despite his atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. However, the Bandić campaign used all tactics to force the issue, even distributing fliers in front of churches after the Sunday mass across the country urging believers to choose between the cross and a red star, referencing communism.
Eventually, Josipović responded to the other side's discrediting tactic
Discrediting tactic
The expression discrediting tactics refers to personal attacks for example in politics and in court cases. Discredit also means to not give the credit that was deserved, to cheat someone out of credit.-In politics:...
s based on religion as well as the savings fund affair by raising the issue of how Bandić had divorced his wife in 1996 and because of that managed to buy out another apartment from the government with a discount, claiming Bandić violated the most sacred sacrament of marriage with the intent of making profit. Bandić responded in outrage saying he went through great emotional pain during his divorce saying Josipović was not a man unless he apologized.
On 3 January the third debate took place, hosted by RTL Televizija
RTL Televizija
RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group....
. The main topics were the return of former prime minister Ivo Sanader to the political scene, the economy, taxes and foreign relations, especially with Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. Bandić once again repeated he was a man of work who would do anything for the people, while Josipović demonstrated his knowledge of law and foreign policy. On the next day, the results of a second set of election polls were published, showing Bandić made some gains, but Josipović's support was mostly unchanged.
The Josipović campaign released a list of 20 Croatian generals who allegedly supported him in the second round. This endorsement was subsequently used in campaign advertisements by Josipović. One of these generals, Nojko Marinović, denied any participation in the endorsement, calling it a "coarse manipulation".
Petar Janjić-Tromblon was also listed and he released a statement denying his support, saying he "doesn't want to be part of their games". The name of Tihomir Blaškić was also floated in the media in this context. Josipović was confronted about it during the third debate, and he claimed that the disavowals were made because of peer pressure.
The Bandić campaign also released their own list of associations of Croatian defenders who allegedly supported him in the second round, including the Association of the 105th Brigade of the Croatian National Guard
Croatian National Guard
The Croatian National Guard was the name of the first modern Croatian military force. Croatian president Franjo Tuđman signed to law the Decree of Formation of the Croatian National Guard on April 20, 1991 which became the first professional armed forces with defence and training duties.These...
, but the war-time commander of the 105th Brigade of the Croatian Army Stjepan Ivanić came forward to state that their association was both named and listed wrongly and said that their members were "appalled by the disinformation".
The Bandić campaign created a negative campaign television ad that used a recording of Josipović's words, but after the Josipović campaign complained, the State Election Committee banned it as a violation of campaign rules, while Bandić campaign complained of censorship. They eventually released a modified version of the same ad, just avoiding the use of Josipović's own voice.
The January 7 debate on Nova TV was held at 21:45, moderated once again by Mislav Bago. The two candidates had a somewhat more intense exchange regarding most issues previously discussed in the campaign. They once again compared tenure in the League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia . Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia .- History :...
and SDP, their personal properties as well as moral values. Josipović called on Bandić to compare their physical and stock properties in court, which the latter refused. There was some talk of endorsements, and some reflections on talking point
Talking point
A talking point in debate or discourse is a succinct statement designed to persuasively support one side taken on an issue. Such statements can either be free standing or created as retorts to the opposition's talking points and are frequently used in public relations, particularly in areas heavy...
s. They finished in a more cordial tone with the mention of future private visits as well as family pets.
The last debate occurred on January 8 on HRT, moderated by Branimir Bilić. Most common topics were covered once again, ending with some larger themes of international politics such as global warming and the inequality of the third world.
Endorsements
- Ivo Josipović (SDPSocial Democratic Party of CroatiaSocial Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
):- PresidentPresident of CroatiaThe President of Croatia , officially styled the President of the Republic represents the Republic of Croatia in the country and abroad as the head of state, maintains the regular and coordinated operation and stability of the national government system, and safeguards the independence and...
Stipe Mesić - Nadan VidoševićNadan VidoševićNadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of...
, first round candidate - Vesna PusićVesna PusicVesna Pusić is a member of Croatian Parliament and one of the main speakers of the opposition Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats in the Parliament...
, first round candidate, and the Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats - Damir KajinDamir KajinDamir Kajin is a Croatian politician. He is a representative in the Croatian Parliament with the Istrian Democratic Assembly.He lives in Buje....
, first round candidate, and the Istrian Democratic AssemblyIstrian Democratic AssemblyThe Istrian Democratic Assembly is a Croatian regional and social liberal political party in Istria. The hyphenated abbreviation IDS-DDI is most commonly used.... - Croatian Social Liberal PartyCroatian Social Liberal PartyCroatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS is a conservative liberal political party in Croatia. The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Its current president is Darinko Kosor, elected to that post in November 2009.-Chronology:The HSLS was...
- Croatian Party of PensionersCroatian Party of PensionersThe Croatian Party of Pensioners is a Croatian political party. It is currently led by Silvano Hrelja.When the Party was founded, few people took it seriously and many commentators speculated that the ultimate purpose of HSU was take away pensioners' votes from rejuvenated SDP and thus help ruling...
- Independent Democratic Serb Party
- Party of European SocialistsParty of European SocialistsThe Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The...
- Political parties not represented in Parliament: Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Green List of CroatiaGreen List of CroatiaThe Green List is a green political party in Croatia. It was created in 2005 for local elections for Zagreb Assembly. It was firstly named Greens for Zagreb . At the local elections in May 2009, the party won 14 mandates in Zagreb's city quarters and five in other local councils...
, Socialist Labour Party of CroatiaSocialist Labour Party of CroatiaSocialist Labour Party of Croatia is a far left Croatian political party with no parliamentary representation. It is often considered to be the leftmost of all registered parties in Croatian politics.-Ideology:...
, Women's Democratic PartyWomen's Democratic PartyWomen's Democratic Party is a women's rights political organization founded in Zagreb in 2004. Party aims to represent the interests and concerns of women. The party allows male members....
, Democratic Party of Zagorje, Democratic Party of Pensioners, Economic Party, Left of CroatiaLeft of CroatiaThe Left of Croatia is a marginal leftist Croatian political party with no parliamentary representation.-Origins:Left of Croatia was created in 2007 by the merger of several parties:* Vladimir Bebić – Third Block* Green Left of Croatia...
, Croatian Green Party – Ecological Alliance, Democratic Party of Međimurje, Adriatic Social Democratic Party of Croatia, Banija Democratic Party, Autonomous Regional Party of Croatian Primorje, Gorski Kotar, Islands and the City of Rijeka, Autochthonous Croatian Peasant Party, Serb People's PartySerb People's Party (Croatia)Serb People's Party is a political party that represents ethnic Serb minority in Croatia.The party was founded in early 1991 by ethnic Serb politicians opposed to the radical and secessionist policies of Republic of Serbian Krajina. As the conflict in Croatia escalated, SNS quickly found itself in...
, Democratic Party of Serbs, New Serb Party and Community of Serbs in Croatia - Plinio Cuccurin, leader of NGO Ladonja, association for better Istria,
- Ivan Grubišić, Catholic priest, sociologist and leader of Citizen's Ethical Forum
- Homeland war former generals: Rahim AdemiRahim AdemiRahim Ademi is a Croatian Army general of Kosovo-Albanian origin.Born and raised in the village of Karač, Vučitrn, SFR Yugoslavia, now found in Kosovo. Ademi finished the Yugoslav military academy in Belgrade in 1976...
, Tihomir BlaškićTihomir BlaškicTihomir Blaškić is a Bosnian Croat army officer who was sentenced in 2000 to 45 years imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes as part of the Lašva valley ethnic cleansing...
, Ivica Obrovac, Veselko Gabričević and Josip Zvirotić, including notable warriors Branko Borković alias Mladi Jastreb, Fred Matić. - Damir Novotny, economist, Mirko FilipovićMirko FilipovicMirko Filipović is a former Croatian heavyweight kickboxer, mixed martial artist, politician, and law enforcement officer. Filipović was a member of the Croatian Parliament from 2003 through 2007...
, Denis LatinDenis LatinDenis Latin is a Croatian television host born on 14 February 1966 in Šibenik.He begun to work on HRT in 1987 and two years later, in 1989, he graduated from Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. In 1990 he became the announcer of Dnevnik, the daily news program on HRT, and with the age of 24 was...
- President
- Milan Bandić (independent, supported by HDSSB):
- Boris MikšićBoris MikšicBoris Mikšić is a Croatian businessman and politician.Mikšić was born in Zagreb, then part of SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in 1973...
, first round candidate - Miroslav TuđmanMiroslav TuđmanMiroslav Tuđman is a Croatian scientist and politician, the son of first president Franjo Tuđman.Tuđman was born in Belgrade where he completed grade school, before he moved with his family to Zagreb in 1961.He was born on his parents 1st anniversary...
, first round candidate - Željko KerumŽeljko KerumŽeljko Kerum is a Croatian entrepreneur and politician. He ran for mayor of Split, Croatia in May 2009 and won 58.4% of the vote. He is also the owner of the Croatian supermarket chain Kerum....
, mayor of Split - Ljubo Bešlić, mayor of MostarMostarMostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
- Political parties not represented in Parliament: Croatian Party of Rights – Ante Starčević, Green party and the Party of Pensioners
- A list of various of war veteranWar VeteranWar Veteran is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It was first published in If magazine in March 1955.-Plot summary:The plot concerns an old man who claims to have travelled back in time from a future in which Earth has lost a devastating war to its own Martian and Venusian colonies...
associations, including the Zagreb and other city or regional branches of the Alliance of Homeland War Associations and the Croatian Homeland War Invalids (HVIDRA) and Croatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration CampsCroatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration CampsCroatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration Camps is an association of former prisoners in Serbian jails and prison camps during the Croatian War of Independence. The organization was founded in Zagreb in 1995 and began its work that same year . Its offices are located on Ban...
and the Association of Croatian Volunteers of the Homeland War (UHDDR) led by Tomislav MerčepTomislav MerčepTomislav Merčep is a former Croatian politician and paramilitary during the Croatian War of Independence.A native of Vukovar, Merčep worked as an engineer before joining the Croatian Democratic Union in 1990... - Political parties from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCroatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a political party of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is an observer member of the European People's Party ....
, Croatian Democratic Union 1990Croatian Democratic Union 1990The Croatian Democratic Union 1990 is a political party of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It split of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is led by Božo Ljubić. In the 2006 it was the leading member of the Croats Together coalition....
, Croatian Christian Democratic Union (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Croatian Society of Victimology
- Marko Perković Thompson, Zvonko BušićZvonko BušićZvonko Bušić is a Croatian emigrant known for hijacking TWA Flight 355 in September 1976. He was subsequently convicted of air piracy, spending 32 years in prison before being released on parole in July 2008.-Background:...
, Zlatko SudacZlatko SudacFr. Zlatko Sudac is a Roman Catholic diocesan priest for the diocese of Krk, Croatia. He is best known for his stigmata.-Biography:...
- Boris Mikšić
Notable abstentions
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) stated that they will not endorse any candidate in the second round, and have censored local branches that attempted to explicitly endorse Bandić. This happened to HDZ's mayor of ZadarZadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
Zvonimir Vrančić who first endorsed him but later disclaimed official support, and also to the HDZ branch of Makarska
Makarska
Makarska is a small town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split and northwest of Dubrovnik. It has a population of 13,716 residents. Administratively Makarska has the status of a town and it is part of the Split-Dalmatia County....
which also retracted their support under threat of sanction.
The Catholic Church in Croatia
Catholic Church in Croatia
Roman Catholicism in Croatia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.There are an estimated 3.8 million baptised Roman Catholics in Croatia, roughly 85% of the population. The national sanctuary of Croatia is in Marija Bistrica...
claimed that they're neutral in this; the Croatian Bishops' Conference
Croatian Bishops' Conference
The Croatian Bishops' Conference is an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Croatia. It is currently composed of fourteen bishops from all Croatian dioceses plus the Croatian military ordinary....
states that they never endorse anyone. But, there are some signs of subtle pro-Bandić attitude: Croatian archbishop Josip Bozanić
Josip Bozanic
Josip Bozanić is a Croatian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the eighth and current Archbishop of Zagreb, having previously served as Bishop of Krk from 1989 to 1997. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2003....
was visited by Milan Bandić in the Archbishop's office on January 2. The editor of the official church gazette Glas Koncila
Glas Koncila
Glas Koncila is a Croatian, Roman Catholic, weekly newspaper published in Zagreb and distributed throughout the country.- Publishing history :...
Ivan Miklenić, otherwise known as a vocal critic of President Mesić, did not endorse any candidate and instead expressed disappointment with both candidates, but later made statements that were interpreted to favor Bandić. During the campaign, numerous minor violations related to Church members were observed by GONG, in favor of Bandić.
Many first-round candidates endorsed the second-round candidates, but some made public statements regarding the second round but did not endorse. Dragan Primorac
Dragan Primorac
Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation...
made several public statements - he initially tried to stay completely neutral, but later released one where he listed some characteristics of the future president that he would want, without naming a candidate, but focusing on the fight against corruption. The reception was mixed – Večernji list
Vecernji list
Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia...
said he chose no one, while Jutarnji list
Jutarnji list
Jutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2...
said that he chose Josipović, reading between the lines. The Josipović campaign later decided to include Primorac in their endorsement list and Primorac did not seem to come forward with a public rebuttal. On the other hand, Josip Jurčević
Josip Jurčević
Josip Jurčević is a Croatian politician and historian.He grew up in Zagreb. In the 1970s he studied among other things, computer science, theology, Marxism, and economics...
made a late public statement telling voters to void their ballot.
Expense summary including the second round
These following amounts were submitted to the DIP before the final week of the campaign. The rest will be delivered and published after the second round. The amount spent calculation was done by GONG and TIH for the same period.All numbers apart from votes are in Croatian kuna
Croatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
s.
| Candidate (Party) | Amount raised - until January 3 (DIP) |
Amount spent - until January 3 (GONG) |
Total amount spent (DIP) | Votes | Average spent per vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan Bandić (I) | 6,986,061 | 9,589,142.60 | 15,278,984 | 883,222 | 17.3 | |
| Ivo Josipović (SDP) | 4,753,082 | 3,937,365.20 | 8,950,325 | 1,339,385 | 6.7 | |
First round result analysis
The first round of the election saw the lowest turnout of any presidential election in CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
's history with only 43.96% of all the citizens eligible to vote participating in the election compared to 50.57% five years ago and 62.98% ten years ago. Most political observers noted the public's increasing distrust in politicians and the political system as the main reason for the low turnout.
Nationwide, Ivo Josipović obtained 32% and Milan Bandić 14%, meaning the two of them combined achieved less support than Stjepan Mesić did in 2005
Croatian presidential election, 2005
The fourth presidential elections in Croatia took place in two rounds in January 2005.-Background:The State Elections Committee published a list of candidates on 15 December 2004. President Stjepan Mesić stood for re-election, and the governing HDZ nominated cabinet minister Jadranka Kosor...
in the first round only. The fact that there were only three actual left-leaning candidates meant the left was relatively united under Josipović, while the votes of the right were spread out on several prominent candidates, including Bandić, which was one of the reasons why no right wing candidate managed to qualify for a run-off. As such, this election became historic as a run-off would feature two candidates once in the same party, Josipović, who rejoined SDP
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
a year before the election, and Bandić, who left SDP a month before the election so he could run as an independent.
The candidate of the governing centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
Croatian Democratic Union
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
(HDZ) Andrija Hebrang came in third with 12% of the vote, a result noticeably better than most polls had predicted, but still seen by many as a debacle for HDZ as he achieved the lowest ever result for the party on a national level and also became their first presidential candidate not to secure a second round since Mate Granić
Mate Granic
Mate Granić is a Croatian diplomat and politician who was part of the Croatian Government in much of the 1990s.Granić was born in Baška Voda in Dalmatia...
in 2000
Croatian presidential election, 2000
Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 24 January 2000. As no candidate passed the 50% threshold, a secound round was held on 7 February, the first time a second round had been required in the country's history. The result was a victory for Stjepan Mesić of the Croatian People's Party, who...
. Nadan Vidošević, who was seen by many as a front-runner for the presidency in the beginning of the year, came in fourth with 11% of the vote. Dragan Primorac was the third prominent right-wing candidate who invested huge sums in his campaign, but in the poll he achieved only 6%, lower than what many polls had predicted. Primorac was indeed surpassed even by the centre-left candidate Vesna Pusić who was fifth, obtaining 7.25%.
No other candidate achieved more than 5% on a national level. Left-wing Damir Kajin made a decent showing in his home county, but was nevertheless surpassed by the right-wing Miroslav Tuđman in the overall tally. Slavko Vukšić's final number of votes was even smaller than the number of signatures that originally supported his nomination.
Josipović carried all 21 counties
Counties of Croatia
The primary territorial subdivisions of the Republic of Croatia called županije . In English they are commonly referred to as counties....
except for two, the Lika–Senj County which was carried by Andrija Hebrang and the Istria County
Istria County
Istria County is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula . The area of the county is called Istra in Croatian and Slovene...
carried by Damir Kajin. He also won the all major cities including the capital of Croatia, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, a sort of embarrassment for Bandić who is the mayor of the city. Bandić had won the Zagreb local elections, 2009
Zagreb local elections, 2009
On May 17, 2009, local elections were held in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.The incumbent mayor was Milan Bandić , a representative of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia , also the leading party in the previous city council....
with almost 150,000 votes just seven months prior, but with a turnout of 41.69%/33.62% and under the SDP banner. This time he won only some 59,000 votes or 15.64% in Zagreb, with a local turnout of 52.40%.
First round election night
As all the polls around the country closed at 7 p.m., the first exit polls were published by the major television networks. They showed Ivo Josipović easily claiming first place, but failing to obtain an outright majorityTwo-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
winning 32%. The polls showed Milan Bandić, Andrija Hebrang and Nadan Vidošević in a statistical tie with each of them achieving 14%, 12% and 11% respectively. Andrija Hebrang's third place was seen as a great success as most opinion polls before the first round showed him with only single-digit approval, while Nadan Vidošević's placing was seen as a disappointment since most polls before the vote showed him battling for second place with Milan Bandić. The polls predicted Vesna Pusić and Dragan Primorac would be the only other candidates to pass 5% with each of them collecting 7% and 5% respectively. In 2007
Croatian parliamentary election, 2007
Parliamentary elections to the Croatian Parliament were held on 25 November 2007 in Croatia and on 24 November and 25 November 2007 abroad. The campaign officially started on 3 November...
, during the parliamentary election, all exit polls predicted SDP would narrowly win, when in the reality HDZ turned out as the victor. With that in mind, Andrija Hebrang expressed conviction that when actual results were published, he would overtake Bandić and qualify for second round. He claimed that exit polls do not take into account the votes coming from the citizens living abroad and that conservative voters do not participate in exit polls as much as liberal voters. However, the exit polls predicted the outcome almost perfectly as the country's electoral commission's results later confirmed.
Ivo Josipović gave a short speech after the exit polls were announced saying he was confident the official results would match the results they predicted. After the official results were published, he gave a victory speech shortly after midnight thanking his
colleagues and especially his voters for their support and expressed conviction he would be the victor once again two weeks later. He said the citizens of Croatia have a choice between the light and the dark, with him being the light, referring to his untarnished political record, and Bandić being the dark, referring to his allegations of corruption. Milan Bandić arrived to his campaign headquarters just a couple of minutes before midnight and just a couple of minutes after the results were announced he gave his speech. He congratulated all the other candidates and said a new race began that night. He said he would be an independent president, not a remote-control of Zoran Milanović
Zoran Milanovic
Zoran Milanović is a Croatian politician, leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Croatia , the main opposition party.- Early life :...
and accused Josipović of being a project of the highest ranking members of SDP. He claimed Croatia needs a president that works for them, not for his party. While he was speaking, most television networks were showing scenes from Josipović headquarters in the corner, with Milanović observing Bandić's remarks. During the middle of his speech, right when Bandić was bashing his former party and its leader, Josipović came to the stage and all television stations switched to hear what he had to say.
Andrija Hebrang accused his party's dissidents, Vidošević and Primorac, as well as most right-wing candidates for 'stealing' his votes saying the result was that two left-wingers would face-off in the second round. Despite this, he called the election a great victory of the right claiming that right-leaning candidates combined achieved better results that left-leaning candidates combined. In making this assertion, he failed to consider Bandić as left-leaning, and ignored Vidošević's appeal to the left-leaning voters as well. Vidošević conceded defeat saying that one should never blame his failures on others, but himself. He urged the public to continue believing in a better tomorrow saying that Croatia should be a country of knowledge and justice, not of corruption and divisiveness. Pusić gave a short teary speech calling Croatia a country with a lot of potential with only the right leadership. She also noted that no government would ever be able to win without the support of HNS. Primorac said he would be forming a new party which would be independent from both HDZ and SDP and said he saw a bright future for Croatia.
This election night also saw great drama with the war of the television networks
Television in Croatia
Television in Croatia was first introduced in 1956.- Main channels :- Terrestrial :Source: Croatian Post and Electronic Telecommunications Agency,Odašiljači i veze d.o.o.* Dubrovačka televizija - from Dubrovnik, broadcast for the city...
. Nova TV and RTL Televizija
RTL Televizija
RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group....
organized the exit polls together and offered HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
to participate, however HRT refused claiming they were unaware exit polls would be permitted as electoral silence lasted until midnight. HRT showed the results of the exit polls during their prime-time news show Dnevnik
Dnevnik HRT
Dnevnik HRT is the main news program of the HRT, broadcast daily at 19h30.It broadcasts at different hours on HRT1 and HRT2 is the schedule of some sporting events that the two channels broadcast interfere with the usual TV schedule.-External links:*...
. Nova TV and RTL Televizija objected and demanded HRT to pay for distributing their polls.
Second round result analysis
The first round of the election saw the lowest turnout for any Croatian presidential election ever, so many political pundits at the beginning of the runoff campaign predicted an even lower turnout for the second round. However, as the campaign started to become more heated and the electoral body more divided, it was evident the runoff election would have a greater turnout than the first round. The increase in turnout was 277,661 people, of which 268,166 cast valid votes. Overall, 50.13% of citizens who are eligible to vote fulfilled their public right. That's a little more than 6 percentage points higher turnout than the first round and on pair with five years agoCroatian presidential election, 2005
The fourth presidential elections in Croatia took place in two rounds in January 2005.-Background:The State Elections Committee published a list of candidates on 15 December 2004. President Stjepan Mesić stood for re-election, and the governing HDZ nominated cabinet minister Jadranka Kosor...
, but 10 percentage points less than 10 years ago
Croatian presidential election, 2000
Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 24 January 2000. As no candidate passed the 50% threshold, a secound round was held on 7 February, the first time a second round had been required in the country's history. The result was a victory for Stjepan Mesić of the Croatian People's Party, who...
and the lowest turnout for a runoff presidential election ever.
Nationwide, Ivo Josipović achieved 1,339,385 votes, or 60.26%, while Milan Bandić won 883,222 votes, or 39.74%. Most polls before the election were showing Josipović with a hefty double-digit lead, but never as much as 20 percentage points as he achieved during the election. The difference between the two candidates came as a surprise to many pundits and analysts for two reasons: the polls usually favor the more liberal candidate since left-leaning voters tend to participate in opinion polls more than conservative voters; and the fact that most polls before the election didn't include the votes from the citizens living abroad, which was expected to be a strong boost for Bandić come Election Day. Nevertheless, the final result is similar to the result of the last several polls when only the certain voters were taken into account, which may indicate that few undecided voters actually went to the polls in the second round.
Josipović won all Croatian counties
Counties of Croatia
The primary territorial subdivisions of the Republic of Croatia called županije . In English they are commonly referred to as counties....
except for the Lika-Senj county
Lika-Senj County
Lika-Senj county is a county in Croatia that includes most of the Lika region and some northern coastline of the Adriatic near the town of Senj, including the northern part of the Pag island...
, the least populated Croatian county. Similarly, he won all cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants and all cities that are county seats, except for Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
, which is also the smallest. The capital city Zagreb was also won by Josipović, with a margin that was slightly higher than the national average. Bandić was unsuccessful in the majority of Zagreb boroughs, but he did win Lika and the extraterritorial electoral unit, where the majority of votes came from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. The closest margins were in the traditional right-wing strongholds in parts of Slavonia and Dalmatia.
According to the exit polls Josipović won more than 90% of Vesna Pusić's voters and 70% of Nadan Vidošević's voters. He also managed to consolidate the traditionally centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
voters winning 90% of his party's
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
as well as more than 80% of HNS voters and more than 70% of the centrist HSLS
Croatian Social Liberal Party
Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS is a conservative liberal political party in Croatia. The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Its current president is Darinko Kosor, elected to that post in November 2009.-Chronology:The HSLS was...
and centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
HSS
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party is a center and socially conservative political party in Croatia.-Austria-Hungary:The Croatian People's Peasant Party was formed on December 22, 1904 by Antun Radić along with his brother Stjepan Radić. The party contested elections for the first time in the Kingdom of...
voters, at the same time appealing to every fourth HDZ
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
voter. Bandić won almost 80% of all Hebrang voters as well as 57% of Primorac's voters and obtained 3 quarters of all HDZ voters, confirming the assumption that Bandić mostly appealed to the right.
The result was not received particularly well by the Church gazette Glas Koncila
Glas Koncila
Glas Koncila is a Croatian, Roman Catholic, weekly newspaper published in Zagreb and distributed throughout the country.- Publishing history :...
editor Ivan Miklenić, who stated Josipović's legitimacy, but first pointed out that he was elected by less than a third of the total population, and claimed that he was supported by "obscure power centers". He concluded that the election is the result of a policy of continuation and "not a democratic breakthrough". The secular Jutarnji list
Jutarnji list
Jutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2...
editor Davor Butković lambasted that opinion, saying he was personally a Catholic but was offended by the notion that the Church would undermine the election result. Having a third of the electorate's votes is not relevant because not even the late Franjo Tuđman or even any single Government was ever elected with more than a half of the electorate. He concluded by asking why the Church is "insulting its faithful who voted for Josipović" and saying that as long as this kind of a stance persists, the Croatian churches will "remain empty other than on major holidays". The secular Večernji list
Vecernji list
Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia...
chief commentator Milan Ivkošić once again called on Josipović to stay away from former President Mesić's "selective finger-pointing" which in his opinion particularly impacted the President's relations with Kaptol
Kaptol, Zagreb
Kaptol is a part of Zagreb, Croatia in the upper town and it is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Zagreb.-History:The existence of Kaptol, the settlement on the east slope, was confirmed in 1094 when King Ladislaus founded the Zagreb diocese. The bishop, his residence and the Cathedral...
, in addition to a perceived "complaisance in the defence of Croatian national interests". He also noted that the new President remains "marked" by his agnosticism in relation to the right-wing voting body, but called on the Croatians to determine a basic consensus and avoid any accusations of "treason". Josipović indeed explicitly stated that he "will not step into that whole polemic" and that he has no comment.
Second round election night
When the polls around the country closed at 19:00 RTLRTL Televizija
RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group....
and Nova TV published the results of the exit polls conducted by Ipsos PULS
Ipsos
Ipsos S.A. is a global market research company headquartered in Paris, France. The Company was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1 July 1999...
. They predicted a landslide win for Josipović, giving him an advantage of almost 30 percentage points, significantly larger than all of the second-round polls. This shifted much of the political commentary and rendered much of the expected drama moot. The Josipović headquarters started celebrating immediately after the polls closed claiming that the difference is too large for Bandić to overcome and the exit polls don't feature such a large statistical margin of error. The Bandić campaign said they'll wait for official results, but admitted it would be very hard for Bandić to overtake Josipović's 30 point lead even when the votes from abroad were tallied. The exit polls predicted the outcome well as the ratio between the two candidates was 9 to 1 for Bandić abroad, where there were no exit polls, which narrowed Josipović's victory to a final difference of 21 percentage points.
After the official results were announced at midnight it was evident that Ivo Josipović was elected the third president of the Republic. He gave a victory speech shortly after thanking everybody who voted for him, but also saying he would be the president of all, not just the left. He called his victory a step in the right direction and said he would work hard for justice and a better Croatia. Josipović did not finish his acceptance speech before Bandić started his concession speech, using the opportunity to decry "hate, contempt and intolerance from everyone" towards him.
The Bandić self-victimization was ultimately not well received by both the voters and the media.
During election night, Milanović gave an interview to the three major television networks where he congratulated Ivo Josipović and called on Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor is a Croatian politician and former journalist. She is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on July 6, 2009, following the sudden resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader. She is Croatia's first female Prime Minister since independence.-Early life:Jadranka...
to hold a meeting with him where they would discuss the major political differences between their two parties and find a way to agree on how to help the economy further. The prime minister responded the very same night when she congratulated Josipović saying she invited the opposition leader for a coffee over six months ago claiming he refused. Milanović responded the next day by saying he doesn't want finger-pointing, but a constructive discussion about jobs, the budget and tax reform. They came to an agreement the following week and they held a meeting on 21 January.
Although HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
admitted they crossed the line two weeks ago when they reported the results of the exit polls conducted by RTL and Nova TV, they once again 'borrowed' the results for the second round election night. This caused a stir within HRT against the main editor of the news program Hloverka Novak-Srzić who was faced with scandals long before the election night incident. Finally, exactly nine days after the election, on 19 January, she was released of her duties as chief editor.
Exit polls second round
| Candidate | Party | Ipsos PULS for RTL RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Nova |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
64.6% | |||
| Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
35.4% | |||
| Source: izbori.dnevnik.hr | |||||
Before the second round of vote
| Candidate | 28 Dec 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
29 Dec 2009 Totus Opiniometar |
30 Dec 2009 Cro Demoskop |
2–4 Jan 2010 Media Metar |
4 Jan 2010 Promocija Plus |
4–5 Jan 2010 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
7 Jan 2010 Totus Opiniometar |
7 Jan 2010 Mediana |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... (SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... ) |
56.3% | 52.5% | 53.5% | 55.2% | 54.5% | 55.8% | 52.6% | 52.3% | |
| Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... (I Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... ) |
31.6% | 14.7% | 33.7% | 44.8% | 37.1% | 39.5% | 23.8% | 35.6% | |
| Remainder | 12.1% | 32.8% | 12.9% | / | 8.4% | 4.4% | 23.6% | 12% | |
| Lead | 24.7% | 37.8% | 19.8% | 10.4% | 17.4% | 16.3% | 28.8% | 16.7% | |
Exit polls first round
| Candidate | Party | Ipsos PULS for RTL RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Nova |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
32.7% | |||
| Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
14.1% | |||
| Andrija Hebrang Andrija Hebrang (son) Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament... |
HDZ Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003... |
12.1% | |||
| Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
11.7% | |||
| Vesna Pusić Vesna Pusic Vesna Pusić is a member of Croatian Parliament and one of the main speakers of the opposition Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats in the Parliament... |
HNS-LD | 7.6% | |||
| Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
5.8% | |||
| Damir Kajin Damir Kajin Damir Kajin is a Croatian politician. He is a representative in the Croatian Parliament with the Istrian Democratic Assembly.He lives in Buje.... |
IDS Istrian Democratic Assembly The Istrian Democratic Assembly is a Croatian regional and social liberal political party in Istria. The hyphenated abbreviation IDS-DDI is most commonly used.... |
4.1% | |||
| Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman is a Croatian scientist and politician, the son of first president Franjo Tuđman.Tuđman was born in Belgrade where he completed grade school, before he moved with his family to Zagreb in 1961.He was born on his parents 1st anniversary... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
3.5% | |||
| Josip Jurčević Josip Jurčević Josip Jurčević is a Croatian politician and historian.He grew up in Zagreb. In the 1970s he studied among other things, computer science, theology, Marxism, and economics... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
2.6% | |||
| Boris Mikšić Boris Mikšic Boris Mikšić is a Croatian businessman and politician.Mikšić was born in Zagreb, then part of SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in 1973... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
2% | |||
| Vesna Škare Ožbolt | Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
1.6% | |||
| Slavko Vukšić Slavko Vukšić Slavko Vukšić is a Croatian politician and businessman. He is the leader of the minor regional political party the Democratic Party of Slavonia Plain .... |
DSSR | 0.6% | |||
| Source: izbori.dnevnik.hr | |||||
Before the first round of vote
| Date(s) Conducted | Polling Organisation/Client | Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... |
Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of... |
Andrija Hebrang Andrija Hebrang (son) Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament... |
Vesna Pusić Vesna Pusic Vesna Pusić is a member of Croatian Parliament and one of the main speakers of the opposition Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats in the Parliament... |
Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation... |
Vesna Škare Ožbolt | Damir Kajin Damir Kajin Damir Kajin is a Croatian politician. He is a representative in the Croatian Parliament with the Istrian Democratic Assembly.He lives in Buje.... |
Josip Jurčević Josip Jurčević Josip Jurčević is a Croatian politician and historian.He grew up in Zagreb. In the 1970s he studied among other things, computer science, theology, Marxism, and economics... |
Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman is a Croatian scientist and politician, the son of first president Franjo Tuđman.Tuđman was born in Belgrade where he completed grade school, before he moved with his family to Zagreb in 1961.He was born on his parents 1st anniversary... |
Boris Mikšić Boris Mikšic Boris Mikšić is a Croatian businessman and politician.Mikšić was born in Zagreb, then part of SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in 1973... |
Slavko Vukšić Slavko Vukšić Slavko Vukšić is a Croatian politician and businessman. He is the leader of the minor regional political party the Democratic Party of Slavonia Plain .... |
Undecided / none |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Dec | International Institute Ifimes | 24.1% | 9.8% | 13.3% | 7.1% | 6.9% | 6.6% | 0.2% | 1.1% | 0.5% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 28.4% |
| 23 Dec | Puls for Večernji list and RTL Televizija | 31.9% | 16.8% | 13.1% | 8.1% | 6.1% | 7.9% | 2.7% | 3.1% | 1.0% | 2.7% | 1.0% | 0.6% | 5% |
| 22 Dec | Mediana Fides for Jutarnji list | 24.8% | 11.9% | 9.4% | 6.4% | 7.8% | 6.7% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| 22 Dec | Puls for Nova TV | 31% | 17.4% | 11.9% | 9.3% | 6.4% | 7.9% | 2.5% | 3% | 1.6% | 2% | 1% | 0.6% | 5.5% |
| 22 Dec | Totus Opiniometar | 19% | 9.5% | 14.2% | 7% | 4.6% | 3% | 0.2% | 1.4% | 0.6% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 26.7% / 11.4% |
| 17 Dec | Puls for T-portal | 29.3% | 12.2% | 13.9% | 7.6% | 7.2% | 10.4% | 1.2% | 2.7% | 2.3% | 2.3% | 2% | 1% | 9.8% |
| 17 Dec | Totus Opiniometar | 19.2% | 6.3% | 13.5% | 6.8% | 5.5% | 3.3% | 1.2% | 2.2% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 40% |
| 14 Dec | Puls for SDP | 29.6% | 11.8% | 14.3% | 7.1% | 8.2% | 10.6% | 2.1% | 2.3% | 2.1% | 2.4% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 10% |
| 9 Dec | Puls for SDP | 30.4% | 13% | 12% | 8.7% | 5.1% | 9.8% | 2% | 4.1% | 2.4% | 2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 10% |
| 9 Dec | Promocija Plus for HDZ | 30% | 13% | 12% | 11% | N/A | 8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 3 Dec | CRO Demoskop (Promocija plus) | 26.2% | 16.2% | 15.3% | 7.8% | 7% | 8.6% | 1.7% | 3.4% | 1% | 1.8% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 10.4% |
| 30 Nov | Puls for Nova TV | 25.3% | 16.6% | 16% | 7.9% | 5.8% | 5.1% | <5% | <5% | <5% | <5% | <5% | <5% | 9.5% |
| 28 Nov | Puls for Večernji list and RTL Televizija | 29.2% | 15.6% | 13.2% | 7.7% | 4.8% | 8.5% | 2.6% | 3.2% | 1.5% | 3.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 9.4% |
| 25 Nov | Totus Opiniometar | 16.1% | 7.2% | 13.8% | 3.1% | 2.5% | 4.7% | 0.6% | 1.6% | 1% | 0.6% | N/A | N/A | 33% |
| Start of the official campaign | ||||||||||||||
| 19 Nov | Mediana Fides for Jutarnji list | 27.6% | 15.4% | 12.7% | 8.4% | 6.0% | 8.1% | N/A | 2.2% | N/A | 1.2% | 1.1% | N/A | N/A |
| 17 Nov | Puls for T-Portal | 28.1% | 15.8% | 14.4% | 12.2% | 7.2% | 5.2% | 1.1% | 1.8% | 1.3% | 0.8% | 0.3% | N/A | 11.4% |
| 17 Nov | Puls for Nova TV | 26.4% | 15.7% | 14.9% | 11.6% | 8.6% | 6.8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 14.5% |
| 4 Nov | CRO Demoskop (Promocija plus) | 24.9% | 14.5% | 13.4% | 9.4% | 8.6% | <4% | <4% | <4% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 13.3% |
| 4 Nov | Totus Opiniometar | 17.2% | 9.7% | 14.6% | 5% | 5.1% | 2.2% | 0.6% | 1.6% | 0.7% | 1.1% | N/A | N/A | 43.6% |
| 31 Oct | GfK for Jutarnji list | 17.1% | 15.2% | 11.9% | 9% | 4.4% | 3.9% | 1.5% | 3.5% | N/A | 0.6% | 0.6% | N/A | 45% |
| 31 Oct | Puls for Nova TV | 24.6% | 17.6% | 13.1% | 11% | 6.8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 9.1% |
| 28 Oct | Puls for T-Portal | 28.5% | 13.6% | 12.7% | 10.7% | 7.2% | 4.2% | 4.6% | 4.3% | 2.3% | 1.6% | N/A | N/A | 10.5% |
| 18 Oct | Puls for Večernji list | 26.6% | 11.3% | 10.8% | 8% | 9.2% | 4.4% | 5.9% | 5% | 1.3% | 0.8% | 1% | N/A | 10.5% |
| 18 Sep | Mediana for Jutarnji list | 21.1% | 14.7% | 15% | 8.3% | 11% | 3.3% | N/A | 4.5% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 11 Sep | Sinergie for SDP | 26.4% | 6.7% | 13% | 7.1% | 4.4% | N/A | 4.2% | 3.3% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 26 Aug | Promocija plus for SDP | 25% | 10.5% | 10.5% | 12% | 9.5% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 32.5% |
| 24 Aug | Hendal for Tportal | 25.8% | 10% | 9.3% | 4% | 7.5% | 1.3% | N/A | 3.3% | 1.8% | 2.3% | 2.3% | N/A | 31.3% |
| 3 Aug | CRO Demoskop (Promocija plus) | 22.1% | N/A | 14.1% | 11.1% | 11.8% | N/A | N/A | 4.8% | 6.3% | 2% | N/A | N/A | 15.8% |
| 1 Aug | Puls for Nova TV | 32.9% | N/A | 12.8% | 17.3% | 9.7% | N/A | N/A | 6.9% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Hypothetical second round match-ups
| Candidate | Party | 17 Nov 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
19 Nov 2009 Mediana Fides for Jutarnji list Jutarnji list Jutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2... |
28 Nov 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
22 Dec 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
23 Dec 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
54% | 47.4% | 55% | 53% | 58.2% | |
| Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
42% | 36.1% | 35% | 36% | 32.2% | |
| remainder | 4% | 16.5% | 10% | 11% | 9.6% | ||
| Candidate | Party | 17 Nov 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
19 Nov 2009 Mediana Fides for Jutarnji list Jutarnji list Jutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2... |
28 Nov 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
22 Dec 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
23 Dec 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
51% | 45.7% | 51% | 53% | 53.4% | |
| Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
41% | 34.2% | 35% | 36% | 34.8% | |
| Candidate | Party | 17 Nov 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
28 Nov 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
22 Dec 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
23 Dec 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
63% | 67% | 64% | 65.9% | |
| Andrija Hebrang Andrija Hebrang (son) Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament... |
HDZ Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003... |
30% | 22% | 25% | 26.6% | |
| Candidate | Party | 17 Nov 2009 Puls for Nova TV |
19 Nov 2009 Mediana Fides for Jutarnji list Jutarnji list Jutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2... |
28 Nov 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur. He was a long-time member of the Croatian Democratic Union, before he launched an independent and ultimately unsuccessful candidacy in the 2009-2010 Croatian presidential election.-Overview:Vidošević graduated from Faculty of... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
52% | 42.8% | 47% | |
| Milan Bandić Milan Bandic Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of... |
Independent | 39% | 21% | 38% | |
| Candidate | Party | 23 Dec 2009 Puls for RTL Televizija RTL Televizija RTL Televizija is a Croatian commercial broadcaster with national availability that has been broadcasting since April 30, 2004.RTL Televizija is 74% owned by the RTL Group.... and Večernji list Vecernji list Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.The newspaper was started in the 1950s and it is today one of two largest daily newspapers in Croatia... |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the... |
SDP Social Democratic Party of Croatia Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia... |
59.7% | |
| Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac Dragan Primorac is a university professor, pediatrician, geneticist and forensic science expert who became a politician as a member of Croatian Government, serving as the Minister of Science, Education and Sports between 2003 and 2009. He completed his first term without any party affiliation... |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
30.2% | |