Elections in Croatia
Regular elections in Croatia are mandated by the
The President of Croatia is elected for a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens in a
Any Croatian citizen over age 18 may be a candidate in presidential, parliamentary or local government elections, provided that a sufficient number of endorsements by Croatian voters is obtained beforehand. Croatian elections are relatively well-regulated; regulations include spending limits, annual donation limits, a limitation on the number of endorsed candidates and election lists and regulations governing media coverage. Voting takes place in polling stations in Croatia and abroad, monitored by an electoral board and observers at each station. Ballots consist of an alphabetical list of candidates, or an election list with ordinal numbers (which are circled to indicate a vote). All votes are counted by hand. The State Electoral Commission publishes official results and handles complaints, supported by county, city and town electoral commissions during local elections. Decisions of the electoral commissions may be appealed at the Constitutional Court of Croatia.
Parliamentary elections
The Parliament of Croatia (
The
An additional eight members of the parliament are elected from the twelfth constituency. It encompasses the entire country; candidates in this constituency are elected by voters belonging to
An election silence is enforced on the day before and the day of the elections, ending at 7:00 pm when the polling stations close and the exit polls are published.[10]
Although political parties fund their campaigns using donations or their own assets, the government reimburses them for each parliamentary seat won. For instance, each seat won in the 2011 parliamentary election brought a party 180,000 kuna (c. 24,300 euros). Smaller sums were paid to parties or candidates failing to win any parliamentary seats, provided that they received more than five percent of the votes cast in a constituency.[11]
2020 parliamentary election
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
HDS–HDSSB |
621,035 | 37.26 | 66 | +5 | |||||
SDP–HSS–GLAS–IDS–HSU–SNAGA–PGS |
414,645 | 24.87 | 41 | –4 | |||||
181,493 | 10.89 | 16 | New | ||||||
Bridge of Independent Lists |
123,194 | 7.39 | 8 | –5 | |||||
ORaH ) |
116,483 | 6.99 | 7 | New | |||||
Smart–Focus |
66,399 | 3.98 | 3 | +3 | |||||
Enough of Robbery |
37,628 | 2.26 | 0 | –8 | |||||
Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats | 21,727 | 1.30 | 1 | –8 | |||||
People's Party – Reformists | 16,900 | 1.01 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Bandić Milan 365 - Labour and Solidarity Party |
9,897 | 0.59 | 0 | –1 | |||||
Croatian Civic Party | 7,399 | 0.44 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Right League (NHR and HSP) | 7,266 | 0.44 | 0 | New | |||||
RI |
6,594 | 0.40 | 0 | New | |||||
Authentic Croatian Party of Rights |
5,343 | 0.32 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Pensioners Together Bloc | 5,268 | 0.32 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Croatian Democratic Party | 2,465 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Strength of Slavonia and Baranja | 2,294 | 0.14 | 0 | New | |||||
Socialist Labour Party of Croatia | 2,149 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Union of Kvarner | 2,044 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |||||
Movement for a Modern Croatia | 1,307 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |||||
My Beloved Croatia | 978 | 0.06 | 0 | New | |||||
Authentic Croatian Peasant Party | 958 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | |||||
BDSH–HBPS | 768 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Croatian Party of the Future | 732 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||||
Croatian Civil Resistance Party | 714 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||||
Independent List of Bura | 626 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||||
Free Croatia | 605 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Croatian Perspective Party | 576 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Croatian Community Party | 405 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |||||
Croatian Party of Order | 338 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Alphabet of Democracy | 219 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |||||
Independents | 8,524 | 0.51 | 0 | –1 | |||||
National minorities | – | – | 8 | 0 | |||||
Invalid/blank votes | 38,713 | – | – | – | |||||
Total | 1,705,686 | 100 | 151 | 0 | |||||
Registered voters/turnout | 3,672,555 | 46.44 | – | – | |||||
Source: Izbori |
Next parliamentary election
See article: 2024 Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections are to be held no later than 60 days after the expiration of the 4-year parliamentary term, counting from the day that parliament is constituted with the election of a Speaker or no later than 60 days after the dissolution of parliament by vote of MPs. The 10th Assembly of Parliament was constituted on 22 July 2020 and dissolved on 14 March 2024.[12] The next elections for the Croatian Parliament will be held on 17 April 2024.[13]
Previous parliamentary elections
Since 1990, fourteen parliamentary elections have been held in Croatia. These have included the 1990 elections for a tricameral parliament, three elections of the Chamber of Deputies during the bicameral parliament's existence, seven elections of the unicameral Parliament and two elections of the Chamber of Counties—the upper house of the bicameral parliament.[14]
The elections held in 1990 were the first multi-party elections after 45 years of Communist rule; candidates vied for all 80 seats in the Social-Political Council of Croatia, all 116 seats in the Municipalities Council of Croatia and all 160 seats in the Associated Labour Council of Croatia (since Parliament had three chambers at the time). The first round of the election saw a turnout of 85.5 percent, and the runoff-election turnout was 74.8 percent. The
Previous Chamber of Deputies and unicameral Sabor elections
Nine parliamentary elections have been held since for the Chamber of Deputies (Croatian: Zastupnički dom) or the unicameral parliament since then—in 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2020. Beginning with the 1992 elections, the number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies (and, later, in the unicameral parliament) was significantly changed—ranging from 127 in 1995 to 153 in 2007 and 151 in 2011. In the Croatian parliamentary elections held since 1992, when the number of seats in parliament was limited below 160, only six parties have won ten seats or more in any single election: the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS), the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), The Bridge(Most).[14]
Several other political parties (besides the HDZ, HSS, HNS, HSLS, Most and SDP) have won parliamentary seats since the 1990 election. Those are (in alphabetical order): the
Election | Turnout | Results | Cabinet(s)
|
---|---|---|---|
1990 | * | 1st assembly | Cabinet of Stjepan Mesić, Cabinet of Josip Manolić, Cabinet of Franjo Gregurić |
1992 | 75.6% | 2nd assembly |
Cabinet of Hrvoje Šarinić, Cabinet of Nikica Valentić |
1995 | 68.8% | 3rd assembly | Cabinet of Zlatko Mateša |
2000 | 70.5% | 4th assembly |
Cabinet of Ivica Račan I, Cabinet of Ivica Račan II |
2003 | 61.7% | 5th assembly |
Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I |
2007 | 59.5% | 6th assembly | Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, Cabinet of Jadranka Kosor |
2011 | 54.3% | 7th assembly |
Cabinet of Zoran Milanović |
2015 | 60.8% | 8th assembly |
Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković |
2016 | 52.6% | 9th assembly |
Cabinet of Andrej Plenković I |
2020 | 46.4% | 10th assembly |
Cabinet of Andrej Plenković II |
Source: State Election Commission[14] |
*In the first multi-party elections in 1990 three parliamentary chambers were elected in a two-round majoritarian system: the Social-Political Council, the Council of Municipalities and the Council of Associated Labour. Turnout for the election each chamber varied. It was as follows: Social-Political council (84.5% in first round in all constituencies, 74.82% in second round in 51 of 80 constituencies), Council of Municipalities (84.1% in first round, 74.6% in second round) and Council of Associated Labour (76.5% in first round in all constituencies, 66% in second round in 103 of 160 constituencies).
Party | 1990 | 1992 | 1995 | 2000 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2016 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
Bloc for Croatia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Bloc of Pensioners - Together | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
Bosniak Democratic Party of Croatia | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – |
Bridge of Independent Lists |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | 13 | 8 |
Civic Liberal Alliance | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Coalition of People's Accord | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Croatian Christian Democratic Union | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
Croatian Citizen Party |
– | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – |
Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja | – | – | – | - | – | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | – |
Croatian Democratic Peasant Party | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
Croatian Democratic Union | 55 | 85 | 75 | 46 | 66 | 66 | 44 | 50 | 57 | 62 |
Croatian Growth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
Croatian Labourists – Labour Party | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | 3 | – | – |
Croatian Party of Pensioners | – | – | – | – | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Croatian Party of Rights | – | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević |
– | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 3 | – | – |
Croatian Peasant Party | – | 3 | 10 | 17 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats | – | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 1 |
Croatian Social Liberal Party | – | 14 | 12 | 25 | 2 | 2 | – | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Croatian Sovereignists | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
Dalmatian Action |
– | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Democratic Centre | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – |
Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
Focus | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
German People's Union | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
Human Blockade |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 4 | – |
Independent Democratic Serb Party | – | – | – | – | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Istrian Democratic Assembly | – | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Liberal Party | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and Solidarity |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | – |
Miroslav Škoro Homeland Movement |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 |
New Left | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Party of Democratic Action of Croatia | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
People's Party - Reformists |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Party of Liberal Democrats |
– | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – |
Party with a First and Last Name |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Serb Democratic Party | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Serb People's Party | – | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Smart |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Social Democratic Action of Croatia | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Social Democratic Party of Croatia | 20 | 6 | 10 | 43 | 34 | 56 | 61 | 42 | 39 | 32 |
We can! | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
Independent |
1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Source: State Election Commission[14] |
Chamber of Counties elections
Under the
Party | 1993 | 1997 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Croatian Democratic Union | 39 | 42 | ||||
Croatian Party of Rights | – | 2 | ||||
Croatian Peasant Party | 5 | 9 | ||||
Croatian People's Party | 1 | – | ||||
Croatian Social Liberal Party | 16 | 7 | ||||
Istrian Democratic Assembly | 3 | 2 | ||||
Social Democratic Party of Croatia | 1 | 4 | ||||
Independent |
3 | 2 | ||||
Source: State Election Commission[14][16] |
Presidential elections
The President of Croatia (officially the President of the Republic, Croatian: Predsjednik Republike[18]) is elected to a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens, with a majority vote required to win. A runoff election is held if no candidate secures a majority in the first round. The presidential elections are regulated by the constitution and dedicated legislation; however, the latter only defines technical details, appeals and similar issues. Any citizen of Croatia, 18 or older, may be a candidate in a presidential election if the candidate is endorsed by 10,000 voters. The endorsements are required in the form of a list containing name, address, personal identification number and voter signature. The presidential elections are regulated by an act of parliament.[19] Election silence is in force on the day of the elections and the previous day, ending at 7 in the evening as polling stations close; exit polls may be published after that time.[20] Unless the presidential term is cut short by death, resignation or removal from office, resulting in an early election, the elections for President of the Republic are scheduled to take place every 5 years, with the incumbent having a possibility of re-election. The president is currently term limited to two 5-year terms.
2019–20 presidential election
Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Zoran Milanović | Social Democratic Party | 562,783 | 29.55 | 1,034,170 | 52.66 | |
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović | Independent (HDZ)[a] | 507,628 | 26.65 | 929,707 | 47.34 | |
Miroslav Škoro | Independent | 465,704 | 24.45 | |||
Mislav Kolakušić | Independent | 111,916 | 5.88 | |||
Dario Juričan | Independent | 87,883 | 4.61 | |||
Dalija Orešković | Independent | 55,163 | 2.90 | |||
Ivan Pernar | Party of Ivan Pernar | 44,057 | 2.31 | |||
Katarina Peović | Workers' Front | 21,387 | 1.12 | |||
Dejan Kovač | Croatian Social Liberal Party | 18,107 | 0.95 | |||
Anto Đapić | DESNO | 4,001 | 0.21 | |||
Nedjeljko Babić | HSSČKŠ | 3,014 | 0.16 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 22,218 | 1.17 | 89,415 | – | ||
Total | 1,903,861 | 100 | 2,053,292 | 100 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 3,719,741 | 51.18 | 3,734,115 | 54.99 | ||
Source: Izbori, Izbori |
Next presidential election
The next presidential election in Croatia is due to be held no more than 60 and no less than 30 days before the expiry of the incumbent president's term, as stated in the Constitution of Croatia. If the current president serves out his full term, which began on 19 February 2020 and lasts for 5 years, the election must be held on a date between 21 December 2024 and 20 January 2025.
The incumbent, 5th president of the Republic, Zoran Milanović, is eligible to run for reelection to a second and final term. Another eligible candidate is the former 4th president of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. She narrowly lost the 2020 election to Milanović after serving one 5-year term and can therefore also run for reelection to a second and final term.
Previous presidential elections
Presidential elections were held in
Election | Candidates | First round voter turnout |
First round results (candidates with more than 10% of votes) |
Second round voter turnout |
Winner |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | 8 | 74.90% | Franjo Tuđman (57.8%), Dražen Budiša (22.3%) | — | Franjo Tuđman |
1997 | 3 | 54.62% | Franjo Tuđman (61.4%), Zdravko Tomac (21.0%), Vlado Gotovac (17.6%) | — | Franjo Tuđman |
2000 | 9 | 62.98% | Stjepan Mesić (41.3%), Dražen Budiša (27.8%), Mate Granić (22.6%) | 60.88% | Stjepan Mesić |
2005 | 13 | 50.57% | Stjepan Mesić (48.9%), Jadranka Kosor (20.3%), Boris Mikšić (17.8%) | 51.04% | Stjepan Mesić |
2009–10 | 12 | 43.96% | Andrija Hebrang (12.04%), Nadan Vidošević (11.33%) |
50.13% | Ivo Josipović |
2014–15 | 4 | 47.12% | Ivo Josipović (38.46%), Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (37.22%), Ivan Vilibor Sinčić (16.42%) |
59.06% | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović |
2019–20 | 11 | 51.18% | Zoran Milanović (29.55%), Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (26.65%), Miroslav Škoro (24.45%) |
54.99% | Zoran Milanović |
Source: State Election Commission[14] |
Local elections
| |
Independent |
Croatia's county
Number of seats in each county, city or municipality is defined by the Law on Local and Regional Self-Government and depends on their population.[27]
|
|
|
Of the nine nationwide local elections held in Croatia since 1990, the most recent were the 2021 local elections to elect county prefects and councils, city and town councils and mayors. In these elections, HDZ-led coalitions won a 13 county-prefects, SDP-led coalitions won two county-prefects while the one was taken by Možemo, IDS and Mreža each and three were independent. In elections for city mayors 56 were won by HDZ candidates, 29 was independent and 22 was from SDP, while rest of 21 mayors are won by some of other 13 parties.[14]
National Minorities Councils and Representatives Elections
National Minorities Councils are bodies that enable national minorities participation in public life and management of local affairs.[28] Elections for councils and representatives are regulated by the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia and the Law on Election of Councils and Representatives of National Minorities.[28] National minorities are electing municipal and county councils or representatives depending on relative and absolute minority population.[28] Councils are elected in municipalities and cities in which minority population constitute at least 1,5% of the total population and there is at least 200 members of certain minority group.[28] County councils are elected if there is more than 500 members of certain minority in a given Croatian county.[28] Units with smaller numbers of members of certain minority, but in which there is still 100 or more members of given minority are electing minority representatives.[28] 10 members are elected into municipal minority councils, 15 into city councils and 25 into county councils.[28]
Minority elections are called by decision of the
European Parliament elections
Croatia first elected 12 members of the
Party (European Parliament group) | 2013 | 2014 | 2019 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Croatian Conservative Party (ECR) | - | - | 1 | |||
Croatian Democratic Union (EPP) | 5 | 4 | 4 | |||
EUL-NGL ) |
1 | 0 | 0 | |||
Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević (ECR ) |
1 | 1 | 0 | |||
Croatian Peasant Party (EPP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (ALDE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
Greens/EFA ) |
- | 1 | 0 | |||
Human Blockade (NI ) |
0 | 0 | 1 | |||
Istrian Democratic Assembly (ALDE) | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
Social Democratic Party of Croatia (S&D) | 5 | 2 | 4 | |||
Independent | - | - | 1 | |||
Total seats | 12 | 11 | 12 | |||
Source: State Election Commission[14][16] |
Referendums
A referendum in Croatia can be called by the Parliament or the President on any issue falling within the purview of parliament, or on any other issue the president considers important to the independence, unity and existence of the republic. Since the constitution was amended in 2001, parliament is obligated by the constitution to call for a referendum if signatures of 10 percent of registered Croatian voters are collected. The signatures, by law, must be collected within a 15-day period.[30] Referendums are regulated by Article 87 of the constitution of Croatia which requires that the parliament passes an act on each referendum and that the outcome is binding unless the referendum is called as an advisory referendum.[18]
There have been three referendums in modern Croatia:
Political campaigns
Any Croatian citizen aged 18 or over may become a candidate in presidential, parliamentary or local elections. In order to become an official candidate, 10,000 signatures from Croatian citizens aged 18 or over must be collected and submitted to the State Electoral Commission. This must be done within 12 days following the publication of the decision to hold elections in
In parliamentary elections, 14-member election lists may be submitted to the State Electoral Commission for any number of constituencies in Croatia. A 14-member list of candidates may also be submitted for the Croatian diaspora constituency, while a two-member list can be submitted for the ethnic-minority representatives. In each case, 500 endorsements are required for an election list to become valid. The lists may be supported by one or more political parties, or by a group of voters as an independent list. No one may be a candidate on two or more lists simultaneously.[39]
The same procedure applies to local elections, except that council-election lists require 100, 150 and 500 endorsements for town, city and county-council lists respectively. The city of Zagreb council is treated as a county council under election law.[40] The number of voter signatures on mayoral and county prefect candidate nominations ranges between 50 (for mayoral elections in towns of up to 1,000 residents), 100 (for other town mayoral candidates), 500 (for mayoral elections in cities of up to 35,000 residents), 1,000 (in cities with populations between 35,000 and 100,000) and 2,000 endorsements for cities of 100,000 residents or more (with the exception of Zagreb). County prefect election candidates require 2,500 endorsements, and candidates running for mayor of Zagreb need 5,000 voter endorsements for their nominations to become valid.[41]
Candidates running for European Parliament seats need not be Croatian citizens and may hold citizenship in any member state of the European Union, while having a permanent (or temporary) residence in Croatia. Their nominations are valid if endorsed by 5,000 Croatian voters.[29]
Funding
The funding of political parties, independent politicians and election campaigns is relatively highly regulated in comparison with developed western democracies.[42] Applicable legislation encompasses cash receipts, provision of free services (except the labour of volunteers), and products and other forms of support (including membership fees). The legislation also stipulates that the government budget provides funding for political parties and non-partisan political representatives in the amount of 0.05 percent of the previous year's budget expenditures. Additional funds are appropriated in local government budgets. The funds are distributed to elected members of parliament and councils, and the political parties with which they are affiliated receive 10 percent of the funds. Each election candidate (or slate) must have a dedicated bank account to handle election-campaign donations, other related funding, and all campaign-related expenditures. The maximum donation to a single party, candidate or slate made in a year is also regulated. In cases of individuals it is set at 30,000 kuna (c. 4,050 euro), regardless of purpose. Companies and other legal persons are limited to the same amount in local elections; 100,000 kuna (c. 13,500 euro) for parliamentary or European Parliament elections and 200,000 kuna (c. 27,000 euro) for presidential elections to any one candidate, party or slate (whichever is applicable). Total campaign expenditures are also limited to 8 million kuna (c. 1.08 million euro) per candidate in presidential elections, 1.5 million kuna (c. 202,000 euro) per candidate (or slate) in European Parliament or parliamentary elections, 500,000 kuna (c. 67,600 euro) per candidate in Zagreb mayoral elections and 400,000 kuna (c. 54,000 euro) per candidate in county-prefect or mayoral elections in cities of 35,000 residents or larger and in county seats. Mayoral election-campaign expenditures in other cities and towns is also limited, depending on the local government's population: 250,000 kuna (c. 33,800 euro) if the population exceeds 10,000 residents, 100,000 kuna (c. 13,500 euro) in population units of 3,000–10,000 and up to 50,000 kuna (c. 6,750 euro) in smaller self-governing units. All candidates and parties (or slates) are legally required to publish financial reports detailing their funding, which are audited by the State Electoral Commission and the State Audit Office. They are also legally required to turn over all receipts exceeding the legal limits in favour of the central government budget within eight days.[43]
In the 2007 parliamentary elections, the leading political parties reported campaign spending as follows: the Croatian Democratic Union spent 19.5 million kuna (c. 2.6 million euro), the Social Democratic Party of Croatia spent 15.8 million kuna (c. 2.1 million euro), the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats spent 9 million kuna (c. 1.2 million euro), while the Croatian Peasant Party led coalition reported spending 8 million kuna (c. 1.08 million euro) and the Croatian Party of Rights spent a similar amount.[44]
All presidential election candidates receiving at least 10 percent of the vote are awarded an equal sum as election-campaign reimbursement. The amount is decided by the government at least 30 days before the election.[38] This amount was set at 250,000 kuna (c. 33,800 euro) for the 2009–2010 presidential election, representing a 50-percent decrease from the sum determined for the previous presidential election (when the reimbursement sum was set at half-a-million kuna).[45][46] Similarly, the government also reimburses the political parties and slates for each parliamentary seat won. For the 2011 parliamentary election, each seat will be given 180,000 kuna (c. 24,300 euro). A sum of 30,000 kuna (c. 4,050 euro) will be paid to parties or candidates failing to win any parliamentary seats if they receive more than five percent of votes in a constituency. In addition, national-minority-representative candidates running on the minority ballot failing to win parliamentary seats (but still winning at least 15 percent of votes in their constituency) will receive 27,000 kuna (c. 3,650 euro) if the minority comprises less than 1.5 percent of the total population of Croatia.[11] All European Parliament election candidates and county-prefect and mayoral-election candidates receiving at least 10 percent of the vote are also entitled to receive reimbursement of costs in an amount determined by the government ahead of each election.[43]
Media coverage and promotion
Legislation requires that all presidential and parliamentary election candidates (or slates) are guaranteed equal opportunity to present and discuss their platforms in the media (in addition to paid advertising).
Paid promotion largely followed this pattern, as the HDZ and the SDP were two dominant parties in that field as well. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) noted in its report that the largest parties reported their advertising spending below their actual value, and the largest proportion of expenditure was for television ads.[50] Election silence is in force on the day of the elections and the previous day, ending at 7 in the evening as polling stations close and exit polls may be published after that time.[10][20][26]
Voting and appeals
Polling stations are set up in public buildings throughout the country; voters may only vote at their assigned polling station (according to their permanent residence), but voters deployed abroad in the armed forces, voters on Croatian-flagged ships and imprisoned voters are allowed to vote elsewhere. Other voters residing in Croatia, but traveling abroad on election day may vote at Croatian diplomatic missions. Polling stations are open from 7:00 am until 7:00 pm, but all voters present at the polling stations at closing time are allowed to vote. Polling stations may be closed early if all registered voters have voted. Presidential election ballots contain a list of candidates verified by the State Electoral Commission, in alphabetical order. This entails the name and PIN of each candidate, and the names of political parties endorsing the candidate (or a note that the candidate is running as an independent). The names are preceded by ordinal numbers. Parliamentary election and European Parliament election ballots contain the name of the slate and the name of the person heading the list, in addition to candidates, who is not necessarily a candidate on the particular list, but may be included as a figurehead symbolizing specific political party or a coalition putting forward the list—usually head of the party of coalition at the national level. The lists are in alphabetical order and preceded by an ordinal number. Voting is done by circling the number associated with a particular candidate. Ballots marked otherwise (but positively indicating a candidate for which a vote is cast) are also considered valid. Blank ballots and ballots on which multiple numbers are circled (or multiple candidates are otherwise indicated) are invalid.[29][38][39][40][41] Official results are announced and published by the State Electoral Commission.[14]
Voter registry
The register of voters in Croatia is defined by law. The register lists all citizens of Croatia aged 18 and over, except those who have been stripped of their voting rights by a court decision. The register is organized according to
A pattern of irregularities has been discovered concerning the updating of the list when citizens of Croatia turn 18 or die. In 2005, it was estimated that the register contained a large number of irregularities and erroneous entries. Since then, public attention was directed to the issue by NGOs monitoring elections through roundtables and advertising campaigns; according to GONG—a NGO specializing in election monitoring—although the register was improved, there is room for further improvement.[52] The 2011 census also indicated a large number of voters in the registry who should not be there, leading to claims that up to a half-million voters in the registry should not be included.[53]
Complaints and appeals
Political parties, candidates and voters who have endorsed a particular candidate (or state) in presidential, parliamentary or European Parliament elections may file complaints with the State Electoral Commission regarding irregularities in the election process within 48 hours of a disputed activity. In the European Parliament elections, voter complaints are required to be endorsed by at least 100 voters (or five percent of the voters). If the commission finds the complaint valid, it will order the part of the election process directly affected by the disputed activity to be repeated (possibly postponing the election date if there is insufficient time left). The commission must provide its decision within 48 hours after the complaint is submitted. The decision may be appealed before the Constitutional Court of Croatia within 48 hours of its receipt and once petitioned, the court must return a ruling within 48 hours.[29][38][39] In local council elections, complaints are processed by county, city or town electoral commissions (as appropriate). In mayoral elections, complaints are filed with the county electoral commission. This does not apply to Zagreb mayoral elections, where complaints are submitted to the State Electoral Commission (the case also in county prefect elections). The time allowances and appeals procedure are the same as for presidential and parliamentary elections.[40][41]
Monitoring
Elections are governed by the State Electoral Commission and electoral boards. Members of those bodies are required to have a university degree in law, and they may not be members of any political party. The State Electoral Commission prepares and manages elections in accordance with legislation, appoints lower-ranking election-commission and board members, issues directives to such bodies and supervises their work. The State Electoral Commission compiles and publishes candidate lists, supervises the legality of political campaigns and compiles and publishes election results. All members of election boards (or their legal deputies) must be present at assigned polling stations at all times while the polling station is open. The board verifies the identity of voters against the list of registered voters and records the turnout. The turnout number is later checked against number of votes cast; if the number of votes exceeds the turnout, the election at that polling station must be repeated. Votes are tallied by hand, and that information is forwarded (along with all other records kept at the polling station) to the State Electoral Commission.[29][38][39][40][41]
Further monitoring is performed by non-governmental organizations specializing in election monitoring, such as GONG.[54] There are also other monitoring organisations headquartered in Croatia and abroad; the OSCE set up a limited monitoring mission to observe the 2009–2010 presidential elections.[55] The last parliamentary election (held in 2007) was monitored by 8,540 observers fielded by a number of organisations and political parties.[56]
See also
- Electoral calendar
- Electoral system
Notes
- 2014–2015 election as the candidate of the HDZ. However, under Article 96 of the Constitution of Croatia, sitting presidents are prohibited from holding party memberships for the duration of their term. As a result, she stood as an independent candidate, albeit with informal HDZ affiliation.[21]
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