At Stake in this Election:  

• The Presidency of Croatia 

The first round of the presidential election was held on 29 December 2024. 

Government Structure:  

• Chief of State: President Zoran MILANOVIC (since 18 February 2020) 

• Head of Government: Prime Minister Andrej PLENKOVIC (since 19 October 2016) 

• Assembly: unicameral Assembly (Hrvatski Sabor) with 151 seats. 

Electoral System:  

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote in up to 2 rounds to a 5-year term, once renewable. 

• The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and approved by the Assembly. 

• 140 of the 151 members of the Assembly are elected in 10-seat constituencies. 8 members are elected by simple majority vote in a national constituency by recognized minority groups: Serbs (3), Hungarians (1), Italians (1), Czechs/Slovaks (1), other minorities (1). The remaining 3 members are elected by the Croatian diaspora in a single constituency. All members are elected to 4-year terms. 

Last Election:  

In the first round of the 2024 presidential election, Zoran MILANOVIĆ (SDP) won the largest share of votes (49.09%) but did not secure a majority, prompting a second round. Dragan PRIMORAC (HDZ) finished second with 19.35% of the vote, advancing to the second round. 

Information for Voters: 

Upute i obavijesti biračima / Instructions and Notifications to Voters (in Croatian) 

Key Deadlines: 

• Candidate filing deadline: 10 December 2024 

• Voter registration deadline: 19 December 2024 

Main Candidates in this Election:  

• Zoran MILANOVIĆ 

• • Parties: Social Democratic Party of Croatia / Socijaldemokratska Partija Hrvatske (SDP) 

• Dragan PRIMORAC 

• • Parties: Croatian Democratic Union / Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica (HDZ) 

Population and Registered Voters: 

• Population: 3,853,200 (2023 est.) 

• Registered Voters: 3,482,150 (2024) 

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 1,975,280 (2023 est.) 

• CEDAW Status: Succeeded 09 Sep 1992 

• Gender Quota:  Yes, political parties must have no greater than a 60-40 gender split in candidate nominations for the legislature. Non-compliance can lead to fines and possible disqualification of candidates. 

• Female Candidates in this election: Yes 

• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 50 of 151 (33%) in the Assembly 

• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.878, Very High, Rank 39 (2022) 

• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: 16.9 (2023) 

Disability Data: 

• CRPD Status: Signed 30 Mar 2007, Ratified 15 Aug 2007 

• Projected population with a disability: 616,512 (2023 est.) 

IFES Resources: 

• Does IFES have a presence in Croatia: No 

• Election Access: Yes  

• ElectionBase: Yes