Croatian presidential election, 2009–2010

The presidential election in Croatia 2009/10 took place ( runoff ) on 27 December 2009 and 10 January 2010. It was the fifth presidential election of Croatia.

In the first ballot, 27 December 2009 4,495,006 voters were called to elect their third president in the history of Croatia. Here, the Social Democratic candidate Ivo Josipovic reached 32.42 % of the vote, the former Social Democrat and Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić 14.83% of the vote.

The second round of voting, in which only Josipovic and Bandic was a choice, Josipovic won with just over 60 % of the vote.

• 4.1 First ballot
• 4.2 Second round

Background

The former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic can not run again after two five-year terms of office. Mesic was first elected in 2000 as a joint candidate of the HNS, HSS and IDS president. In the 2005 presidential election he won against the HDZ candidate Jadranka Kosor and was supported mainly by left-wing parties.

Discussions leading to the nomination of candidates

In the summer of 2009, the parties had begun their campaigns, without mentioning their official candidate. At this time, but individual candidates announced their interest in the presidency.

Social - SDP

After the landslide victory of the Social Democratic candidate Milan Bandić in May 2009 in the local elections in Zagreb, his person was discussed as a presidential candidate. Although before this mayoral election influential members of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia had the party leader Zoran Milanovic prompted the "problem Bandić " to solve, Bandić was supported by the party leadership. Bandićs opponents accused him of corruption and malfeasance during his term of office in Zagreb and demanded Milanovic to nominate another candidate and support them. On June 20, the Bureau of the Social Democratic Party nominated two of its MPs in the Sabor as the official presidential candidate of the SDP: the Law Professor Ivo Josipovic and the economics professor and former Economy Minister Ljubo Jurčić. Other candidates could also arise, however, refused Bandić. When the internal party primaries Josipovic was elected with 64.78 % of votes.

The "problem Bandić " escalated, however, when the media speculated on his possible candidacy. They followed Bandić on his campaign tour of Croatia and asked if he would run for President. However, he did not comment on the questions and drew the attention of the media because of his indecision on itself. On 5 November 2009, he announced his presidential candidacy on Sljeme and criticized Milanovic and his party. He was then expelled from the party and lost his position as chairman of the Association of Zagreb SDP.

HDZ

The Croatian Democratic Union ( HDZ), the largest party in the current government coalition, also had trouble finding candidates for the presidential election. Already in 2008, the then Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was traded as a presidential candidate, even though he repeatedly denied such speculation. After the local elections, speculation grew louder, because no other HDZ politicians hinted for a possible candidacy. On 1 July 2009, Sanader announced unexpectedly, not only did not want to run for President, but also to step down as prime minister and to want to withdraw from politics.

Sanader suggested Andrija Hebrang junior, son of former Croatian- Yugoslav statesman Andrija Hebrang, before official candidate of the Party for the presidential election, a statement that was later supported by the party presidium. He called also Nadan Vidošević as a possible candidate of the party, however refused. Hebrang hesitated in accepting the party nomination and justified the hesitation with his health. Vidošević declared September 2, 2009, to want to compete as an independent candidate and was subsequently expelled from the party. Sanader was not the only member of the Cabinet, that the resignation announced. The HDZ also belonging Education Minister Dragan Primorac announced on the same day as Sanader 's resignation. Media speculated whether he would run as an independent after he had resigned. This speculation turned out to be correct, as Primorac announced his candidacy on November 9, 2009. He, too, was subsequently expelled from the party.

Candidate selection

The elections had already begun on November 4, 2009 with the start of the signature deadline. Each candidate must collect 10,000 signatures from voting Croatian citizens within twelve days. After these twelve days, the State Election Commission on 18 November 2009 announced that twelve candidates could submit the required signatures.

The election campaign of candidates began on 19 November with the announcement of approved candidates. The State Election Commission stated that twelve candidates were selected.

Four of the major parties have nominated official candidates:

• The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, Ivo Josipovic nominated. He is Professor of Law at the University of Zagreb and parliamentarians in the Sabor.
• The Croatian Democratic Union nominated Andrija Hebrang, the former Vice President of the Sabor and former Minister of Health.
• The Liberal Democrat Croatian People's Party nominated Vesna Pusić, the parliamentary Committee President for the negotiations for Croatia's accession to the European Union.
• The left-liberal Istrian Democratic Assembly nominated Damir Kayin, their representatives in the Sabor.

Three independent candidates were excluded because of their candidacy from their parties:

• Nadan Vidošević, President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, former member of the HDZ
• Milan Bandić, mayor of Zagreb, former member of the SDP
• Dragan Primorac, a former education minister and former member of the HDZ

Other candidates had relations with the major parties:

• Vesna Škare Ožbolt, former Minister of Justice, joined in 2000 by the HDZ to DC ( Demokratski centar )
• Miroslav Tuđman, former head of the intelligence service in the 1990s was a member of the HDZ

Other candidates without reference to the major parties:

• Josip Jurčević independent candidate with a right-wing platform
• Boris Miksic, an independent candidate with a right-wing populist history
• Slavko Vukšić, candidate of Demokratske stranke Slavonske Ravnice

The candidate of the Serbian Democratic Forum, Veljko Đakula, was supported by the Serbian People's Party, the Serb Democratic Party and the New Serbia party. He reached 10,557 signatures, but withdrew his candidacy back on November 17, 2009.

The candidate Dejan Golubić retired as Veljko Đakula of the candidacy before their validity had been confirmed officially by the State Election Commission.

All parties have accepted the principle that they support only one candidate and that members who stand as independents, were expelled from the party. According to the Croatian Constitution, the President can not be a member of a political party, therefore, the President must give up all his party membership after the election.

Choice

First ballot

• Majority for Josipovic
• Majority for Hebrang
• Majority of Kayin

The first round was held on December 27, 2009. Overall, nearly 44 percent of the approximately 4.5 million eligible voters cast their vote. The best performing of the candidate of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP ) Ivo Josipovic, starting with 32.42 percent. The former Social Democrat and Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić reached 14.83 percent. The candidate of the ruling HDZ, Andrija Hebrang, reached 12.04 percent of the vote.

Josipovic reached the largest share of the vote in 18 of the 20 counties and the city of Zagreb, Hebrang in the Lika- Senj, the candidate of the Istrian Democratic Assembly ( IDS), Damir Kayin, in Istria County, and Bandić to Croatian nationals outside Croatia.

Since the first ballot no candidate had achieved an absolute majority, the two top ranked candidate Josipovic and Bandic face each other in the run-off election on January 10, 2010.

Second round

In the second ballot on 10 January 2010, the turnout was slightly higher than in the first round with just over 50 percent. Ivo Josipovic won the runoff election with 60.26 % clear of the valid votes. He won a majority in 19 of the 20 counties and the city of Zagreb, while Milan Bandić received the most votes only in the Lika- Senj and to Croatian nationals outside Croatia. In Bosnia - Herzegovina Bandić was quoted 94.28 % of the vote, in Austria 92% and in Germany still 87.4 %. The least number of votes received Bandić in Istria ( 16.63% ).