Presidential elections were held in Croatia in December 2019 and January 2020. The decision to call the elections was made by the Croatian Government during its session on 14 November 2019. Potential candidates were required to gather at least 10,000 signatures from Croatian citizens who have reached the age of 18 in order for their candidacy to become official and for their name to appear on the ballot. They were allocated a time frame of twelve days to accomplish this and thus had until midnight local time on 3 December 2019 to present their signatures to the State Electoral Commission. A total of twelve candidates submitted signatures by the deadline and the commission then proceeded to verify the signatures within the following 48 hours, presenting a final list of eleven approved candidates on 5 December 2019.
In the first round of the election, which was held on 22 December 2019, former prime minister Zoran Milanoviàfinished in first place with 30% of the vote. He was followed closely by incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-KitaroviÃÂ, who received 27% of the vote and by Miroslav à  koro with 25%. As no candidate received an absolute majority, a run-off took place on 5 January 2020 between Milanoviàand Grabar-KitaroviÃÂ. Milanoviàwon the second round with 53% of the vote and was elected the fifth president of Croatia since independence in 1991, while Grabar-Kitaroviàbecame the second consecutive president not to have been reelected for a second term, after Ivo Josipovià(2010âÂÂ2015). The number of votes received by Milanoviàin both the first and the second round was the lowest of any victorious presidential candidate to date, while the number of votes and vote share of Grabar-Kitaroviàin the first round was the lowest for any incumbent president running for re-election.
The incumbent president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-KitaroviÃÂ, took office on 19 February 2015 and her term is due to end on 18 February 2020. The presidential term of Zoran MilanoviÃÂ is due to begin on 19 February 2020 and end on 18 February 2025.
The president of Croatia is directly elected by secret ballot to a term of 5 years using a two-round system. The Constitution of Croatia requires that a presidential election be held no sooner than 60 days and no later than 30 days before the expiration of the incumbent president's term. An absolute majority (50% + 1 vote) of all votes cast (including invalid, blank and uncast ballots) is required to win in the first round. If no candidate acquires such a majority, a second-round is to be held in 14 days' time, with the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the first round taking part. The candidate who acquires the highest number of votes in the second round (a majority of valid cast votes) is declared the winner. If one of the candidates who has won a high enough number of votes to take part in the second round were to abandon his candidacy or die, the candidate with the next highest number of votes in the first round will earn the right to take part in the second round. Furthermore, Croatian presidents may serve a maximum of two 5-year terms in their lifetime (a total of 10 years if both terms are won and served out in full).
In order for a potential candidate to be legally allowed to contest the election and have their name placed on the ballot, they must gather at least 10,000 signatures from eligible voters, with every such signatory being permitted to give his signature of support to only one potential candidate. The time frame for collecting the said number of signatures is set at 12 days, and after the expiry of this period potential candidates must submit them to the State Electoral Commission for verification.
On 5 December, the State Electoral Commission published a list of 11 candidates.
These individuals failed to submit the required number of endorsement signatures.
These individuals have been the subject of presidential speculation, but have publicly denied or recanted interest in running for president.
After official validation of candidates by the State Electoral Commission, the first debate was a confrontation between Katarina PeoviÃÂ (RF and SRP) and Anto ÃÂapiÃÂ (Democratic Alliance for National Renewal), the most left-wing and the most-right wing candidate respectively, which was filmed by and broadcast on N1 television on 5 December 2019.
On 17 December, the Croatian Radiotelevision held the general debate with all 11 candidates participated. It was the only debate where all first-round candidates participated.
On 30 December, RTL held the first general debate with two second round candidates participated. Croatian Radiotelevision held the second debate on 2 January 2020. The third and final general debate was held on Nova TV on 3 January.
Polls conducted after the official start of the campaign
Polls conducted after the first round
Polls conducted after the official start of the campaign
Opinion polls
The first round of the election took place on 22 December 2019, with former Social Democratic Prime Minister Zoran Milanoviàwinning by a plurality of 29.55% of the vote, ahead of conservative incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-KitaroviÃÂ, who received 26.65% of the vote. The conservative folk musician and former Member of Parliament Miroslav à  koro, who was running as an independent candidate, narrowly failed to reach the run-off election, managing to attract the support of 24.45% of voters. This marked the first time in Croatian history that the incumbent president did not receive the highest number of votes in the first round. Also, Grabar-Kitaroviàattained both the lowest number of votes (507,626) and the lowest percentage of votes of any Croatian president competing in either of the two rounds of elections. Milanoviàreceived both the lowest number of votes (562,779) and the lowest percentage of the vote of any first-place candidate in the first round of a presidential election. à  koro received the highest number of votes (465,703) for a third-placed candidate since Mate Granià(HDZ) in the 2000 elections and the highest-ever percentage of the vote for a candidate who did not advance to the run-off. Milanoviàreceived a plurality of the vote in Croatia's three largest cities; 33.02% in Zagreb, 30.79% in Split and 41.87% in Rijeka, and finished second (25.61%) in the fourth largest city, Osijek, which was won by à  koro (33.33%). Grabar-Kitaroviàcame in second in Split and Rijeka, and third in Zagreb and Osijek.
A run-off was held between Milanoviàand Grabar-Kitaroviàon 5 January 2020. Milanoviàwon by just over 104,000 votes, becoming the fifth President of Croatia since independence and the second to have been officially nominated by the Social Democratic Party, after Ivo Josipovià(2010âÂÂ2015). Furthermore, Milanoviàreceived a majority of the vote in seven counties and in the City of Zagreb, while Grabar-Kitaroviàdefeated him among voters living in thirteen counties and among the members of the Croatian diaspora. However, Milanoviàdefeated Grabar-Kitaroviàin all four major cities: Zagreb (by around 74,000 votes), Split (by around 3,000 votes), Rijeka (by around 20,000 votes) and Osijek (by around 1,000 votes).
Ipsos Puls exit polls for the first round of the election suggested the following demographic breakdown: