Croatia to hold presidential elections on 29 December

Croatia will hold it presidential elections next month, it was announced by the Prime Minister today.

The vote is set to take place on Sunday, 29th December.

So far, there are a number of potential candidates aiming for the five-year presidential term.

The list of possible candidates includes eight men and five women.

Among them are current President Zoran Milanović, independent candidate Dragan Primorac backed by HDZ, and candidates from various parties like Miro Bulj, Tomislav Jonjić, Dražen Keleminec, Niko Tokić Kartelo, Anton Filić, and Mislav Kolakušić, Marija Selak Raspudić, Aurora Weiss, as well as Ivana Kekin and Branka Lozo, Novi List reported.

Maxportal also reports that another possible candidate is Karolina Vidović Krišto.

To confirm their candidacy, the potential candidates will have to collect 10,000 more signatures within the given deadlines. The official list of candidates will then be known. 

Croatian citizens living abroad will also have the chance to vote, with polling stations set up in approximately 50 countries worldwide, compared to 47 in the last election.

The president is elected using a majority voting system, meaning a candidate must win more than half of the votes. If no one achieves this on 29th December, the top two candidates will face a runoff election two weeks later.

Since independence, Croatia has had five presidents: Franjo Tuđman (1992, 1997), Stipe Mesić (2000, 2005), Ivo Josipović (2009), Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (2014), and the current president, Zoran Milanović (2019).