At stake in this election:       

• The office of President of Croatia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Ivo JOSIPOVIC (since 18 February 2010)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Zoran MILANOVIC (since 23 December 2011)
• Assembly: Croatia has a unicameral Assembly (Sabor) with 151 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, approved by the assembly.
• 140 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms, 8 members are reserved by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms and 5 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** The seat share apportioned to diaspora voters (currently 3) is based on diaspora voter turnout and can be no more than 12. 8 seats are reserved to 22 recognized minorities. The remaining seats are elected in 10 14-member districts.

Election Note:

On Sunday 11 January 2014, Croatia will hold the second round of the presidential election. The first round of the election was held on Sunday 28 December 2014, Croatia will hold an election for president. Preliminary results (99.98 votes counted) have President Ivo JOSIPOVIC winning 38.5 percent of the vote and Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC of the Croatia Democratic Union (HDZ) winning 37 percent. [i] It is the first election for president since Croatia joined the European Union EU) in 2013.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Candidate: Ivo JOSIPOVIC
  • Party: Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) *
• Candidate: Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC
  • Party: Croatia Democratic Union (HDZ)

*President JOSIPOVIC is an independent but supported by the ruling SDP.

Last election:

• The last election for the office of president in Croatia was held on 10 January 2010.[ii] Turnout was 50.17 percent and 2,439,754 of 4,495,528 people casted ballots.[iii] Ivo JOSIPOVIC of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) won 60 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Milan BANDIC, an Independent, won 40%. Results can be found here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 4,470,534 (July 2014 est)[iv]
• Registered Voters: 2,253,570 (2010)[v]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 2,315,218 (July 2014 est)[vi]
• Is Croatia a signatory to CEDAW: No.[vii]
• Has Croatia ratified CEDAW: Yes (9 September 1992)[viii]
• Gender Quota:  No. But there are Voluntary Political Party Quotas (the Social Democratic Party has 40% quota on election rolls).[ix]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 36 (24%) of 151 seats in Croatia’s Assembly (Sabor).[x]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 47.[xi]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: None (latest categorizations are from 2014)[xii]