Croatian Presidential Election: How Did the Diaspora Vote?

Only 32,435 votes separated new Croatia president Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and her counterpart Ivo Josipović in Sunday’s elections. So how crucial were the votes from Croatia’s diaspora living outside of Croatia?…

37,028 voters turned out to vote in 50 countries overseas on Sunday, with Grabar Kitarović winning 33,737, or 91.11% of the votes abroad. Croatia’s first female president won the majority of the votes in 28 out of the 50 countries, whist Josipović won in 19 countries. Three countries, Indonesia, Israel and Ukraine, were split.

Although Josipović won in 19 countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Qatar and Algeria, Grabar Kitarović dominated in the countries with the biggest number of voters.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina 17,229 voters turned out with Grabar Kitarović winning 16,160 of them, or 93.80%. Canada (97.7%), Australia (97.22%), Argentina (95.81%) and USA (85.07%) were all Grabar Kitarović strongholds. Even without the diaspora vote, Grabar Kitarović would still have been voted in by a minuscule 1,989 votes.