Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 29 December 2024, with a second round held on 12 January 2025 after no candidate won a majority. Incumbent president Zoran Milanović was eligible for a second term, and was re-elected with a record 75% of the vote.
Background.
Voters in Croatia had also voted for the Croatian Parliament in April and European Parliament in June.
The first round was planned for December 2024 but on 15 March 2024 incumbent president Zoran Milanović announced he would run as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) for the position of prime minister. During this press conference, he also revealed he would tend his resignation as the president only in case of a parliamentary election victory on 17 April 2024. Had Milanović become prime minister, the Constitution of Croatia would have required a preliminary presidential election taking place no later than 16 June 2024. However, the SDP-led Rivers of Justice coalition secured only 42 seats in the election and the HDZ carried out a successful vote of confidence with minority representatives and several MPs from the Homeland Movement. Thus, Milanović continued to hold the office of president.
On 20 November 2024, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced that the presidential election would be held on 29 December, which was approved by the Croatian Parliament on 21 November.
The leadup to the election was marred by several controversies, including the November arrest and subsequent dismissal of the sitting Minister of Health Vili Beroš on various corruption-related charges. This caused a standoff between Croatian law enforcement agency USKOK and the European Public Prosecutor's Office, one of whose investigations was blown by the arrest. Attorney General of Croatia Ivan Turudić ruled that USKOK would continue the investigation using the evidence collected by EPPO. Milanović criticised this decision. Another controversy happened around the same time when Milanović vetoed the government's proposal to involve Croatia in a NATO operation training Ukrainian soldiers. The parliament did not attempt to overrule his veto.
Electoral system.
The president of Croatia is directly elected by secret ballot to a term of five years using the two-round system, with presidents limited to two full terms in office. The constitution requires that a presidential election be held no sooner than 60 days and no later than 30 days before the expiration of the incumbent president's term. An absolute majority (50% + 1 vote) of all votes cast (including invalid, blank and uncast ballots) is required to win in the first round. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a second-round is to be held fourteen days later, with the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the first round taking part. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes in the second round (a majority of valid votes cast) is declared the winner. If one of the candidates who has qualified for the second round were to withdraw their candidacy or die, the candidate with the next highest number of votes in the first round takes their place in the second round.
In order for a potential candidate to be allowed to contest the elections and have their name placed on the ballot, they must gather at least 10,000 signatures from eligible voters, with every signatory being permitted to give their signature to only one potential candidate. The timeframe for collecting the said number of signatures is set at twelve days, and after the expiry of this period potential candidates must submit them to the State Electoral Commission for verification.
Candidates.
On 11 December, the State Electoral Commission published a list of eight candidates.
Failed candidacies.
These individuals failed to submit the required number of endorsement signatures.
Campaign.
The incumbent, Zoran Milanović, ran on an anti-corruption campaign, opposing social inequality and growing inflation, which he attributed to policies of the HDZ government. He said that his key values are "the rule of law, right to equality, personal freedoms and rights of minorities". On foreign policy, Milanović said he would "keep Croatia outside global conflicts," and that the country must "retain the right to independent decisions about its national interests". Milanović said he would not slow former Yugoslav countries' accession to the EU.
Dragan Primorac ran on a campaign of co-operation with the HDZ government. He said he would "return civility ... particularly to political and public spheres of life" and that "the military is always above politics", and he offered "unconditional adherence" to "Western values" and the NATO alliance. Primorac's campaign was conservative on regional issues. He promised to "offer special attention to the rights" of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and prevent Serbia from joining the EU unless it provided Croatia with access to archives containing information about mass graves from the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995).
Neither Primorac nor Milanović led an active campaign. Milanović attended only a single debate, on 23 December, during the first round of the elections, but his ratings remained high due to the popularity of his presidency. According to political analysts, both Milanović and Primorac expected to enter the second round regardless of their campaigns.
Marija Selak Raspudić campaigned on a platform that included economic problems, population decline and corruption. Ivana Kekin campaigned against Dragan Primorac and the HDZ, accusing them of corruption in the healthcare sector. On 7 December a group of Croatian veterans from Imotski held a peaceful protest at the Vinjani Donji–Gorica border crossing against what they claimed was a "media blockade of candidate Tomislav Jonjić".
In the first round Primorac trailed Milanović by 30 percentage points. In the only debate of the second round debate, on 7 January, both candidates turned to insults. Milanović accused Primorac of being "totally illiterate", while Primorac called Milanović a "pro-Russian puppet" who "divided" Croatia. On the same day, the "Jutarnji list" newspaper prematurely ended an online election poll after receiving 25,000 votes tipping the scale to Primorac in a short timespan from US-based internet addresses. In the wake of the debate, the Centre for Information Resilience, a UK-based organisation, published a report alleging that "pro-Russian, anti-EU, and anti-NATO bot networks" promoting Milanović on several social media networks were attempting to influence elections. However, the "Večernji list" national newspaper managed to contact the owner of one of the Facebook accounts singled out in the report. The account turned out to belong to a real person, a Facebook activist from Dugo Selo near Zagreb. Social media networks X and TikTok both denied the allegations; TikTok reported removing a different bot network promoting Primorac.
Results.
Incumbent president Zoran Milanović won a second term in office with 75% of the vote, the highest for a presidential candidate in Croatia, not counting president Franjo Tuđman's first round victories in 1992 and 1997.
According to political analysts, HDZ likely expected Primorac to win 30–40% of the second-round vote after only winning 19% in the first round; however, Milanović likely attracted a number of HDZ voters. The results of the second round were taken as a sign of a small loyal voter base for the HDZ, since the large point difference in the first round likely demotivated voters. Some blamed Primorac's low vote count on a poor choice of candidate by the HDZ or the choice to initially campaign as an independent candidate before the formal HDZ endorsement. Primorac and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković caused a minor controversy by not congratulating Milanović in their election night speeches; though former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Archbishop of Zagreb Dražen Kutleša both congratulated him afterward.
References.
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