Zagreb, 11 January 2025 (Hina/MIA) — Croatians are going to the polls on Sunday for a presidential runoff to choose between the incumbent Zoran Milanović, supported by the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its partners, and his rival, Dragan Primorac, backed by the ruling HDZ and its partners.

There are 3,769,598 eligible voters, for whom 6,755 polling stations will be opened, including 105 in 38 countries, ranging from neighboring countries to countries overseas including Australia, Argentina, USA and Canada.

Due to the time difference, the first polling stations will open in Australia at 9 pm Croatian time (CET) in Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne, and they will be the first to close, on Sunday at 9 am.

Polling stations in Croatia will open on Sunday at 7 am and close at 7 pm. Until then, a two-day election silence will be in effect, during which any electoral campaigning, as well as the publication of results projections, are banned.

The State Electoral Commission will release the first incomplete results half an hour after the closure of polling stations in Croatia. The election outcome could be known as early as Sunday around 9 pm.

Tuđman only winner in the first round

Since the first direct presidential elections in 1992, Croatia has had the following presidents: Franjo Tuđman (1992 and 1997), Stipe Mesić (2000 and 2005), Ivo Josipović (2009), Kolinda Grabar Kitarović (2014), and Zoran Milanović (2019).

Tuđman was elected president three times: first as the president of the Presidency of the former Socialist Republic of Croatia in the Parliament after the HDZ's victory in the first multi-party elections in 1990, and then twice in direct elections, in 1992 and 1997, when he was the outright winner, securing over 50% of the vote in the first round.

The Croatian president is elected when he or she garners an absolute majority of votes from all voters who cast their ballots. If this does not happen, the two candidates with the highest number of votes proceed to the second round, which is held 14 days later.

The first round of the eighth presidential elections in Croatia was held on Dec. 29, with a total of eight candidates participating in the race.

Apart from the incumbent president Milanović and Primorac, who were the first two vote-getters (slightly above 49.09% and 19.35% respectively), each of the remaining six candidates received less than 10% of the vote.