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Regular elections in Croatia are mandated by the Constitution and legislation enacted by Parliament. The presidency, Parliament, county prefects and assemblies, city and town mayors, and city and municipal councils are all elective offices. Since 1990, seven presidential elections have been held. During the same period, ten parliamentary elections (with two for the upper house when the parliament was bicameral) were also held. In addition, there were nine nationwide local elections. Croatia has also held three elections to elect members of the European Parliament following its accession to the EU on 1 July 2013.
The President of Croatia is elected for a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens in a majority system, requiring runoff elections if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of votes in the first round. Members of Parliament are elected for a four-year term in ten multi-seat constituencies, with additional members elected in special constituencies reserved for the Croatian diaspora and national minorities. As of July 2020, legislation provides for the election of 151 members of the unicameral parliament (including three representatives of the Croatian diaspora and eight representatives of national minorities). Out of 31 political parties which won seats in Croatian parliamentary elections held since 1990, only six have won ten seats or more in any one parliamentary election. Those were the Croatian Democratic Union, the Croatian Peasant Party, the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, the Croatian Social Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party of Croatia and The Bridge. The county prefects, city/town mayors and municipality presidents are elected for four-year term by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units, with a runoff election if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting. Members of county, city/town and municipal councils are elected for a four-year term through proportional representation, with the entire local government unit as a single constituency.
Any Croatian citizen over age 18 may be a candidate in presidential, parliamentary or local government elections, provided that a sufficient number of endorsements by Croatian voters is obtained beforehand. Croatian elections are relatively well-regulated; regulations include spending limits, annual donation limits, a limitation on the number of endorsed candidates and election lists and regulations governing media coverage. Voting takes place in polling stations in Croatia and abroad, monitored by an electoral board and observers at each station. Ballots consist of an alphabetical list of candidates, or an election list with ordinal numbers (which are circled to indicate a vote). All votes are counted by hand. The State Electoral Commission publishes official results and handles complaints, supported by county, city and town electoral commissions during local elections. Decisions of the electoral commissions may be appealed at the Constitutional Court of Croatia.
Parliamentary elections
The Parliament of Croatia (Croatian: Hrvatski Sabor) consists of 151 members elected to four-year terms in twelve constituencies. Out of that number, 140 are elected in ten multi-seat territorial constituencies. These are defined on the basis of the existing county borders, with necessary amendments to achieve a uniform number of eligible voters in each constituency (plus or minus five percent). The eleventh constituency is for citizens of Croatia living abroad; the number of seats held by this constituency was fixed at three for the parliamentary election held in December 2011. The 2010 constitutional amendments abolished the former scheme, in which the number of MPs elected from the eleventh constituency was proportional to the ratio to the number of ballots cast in the other ten constituencies. In the 2007 general election, this method led to the eleventh constituency electing five MPs.[1][2]
The standard d'Hondt formula is applied to the vote (except for the twelfth constituency in which national minority representatives are elected), with a five-percent election threshold in each constituency.[3][4] Since 2015, the parliamentary elections have an element of preferential voting by letting voters choose not only for a list of candidates, but also a single member of the same list. If the percentage of votes for a candidate exceeds 10%, they are elected as if it was an open list system. The list ranking is maintained for those candidates that do not meet this quota.[5]
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An additional eight members of the parliament are elected from the twelfth constituency. It encompasses the entire country; candidates in this constituency are elected by voters belonging to 22 recognized minorities in Croatia: the Serb minority elects three MPs, the Hungarians and Italians elect one MP each, the Czech and Slovak minorities jointly elect one MP, and all other minorities elect the final two MPs. Minority MPs are elected by simple plurality system (candidates with the most votes are elected).[6] The nationality of the voters is listed in the voter registry, which is provided by the registrar's office that maintains Croatia's vital records. Voter nationalities are normally officially declared by the parents at birth, but any citizen may declare or change that information later on at the registrar's office at least 14 days ahead of elections (not at the polling station).[7] The voter's nationality need not be declared or may be declared as unknown. During elections, voters who have officially declared they belong to one of the recognized minorities in Croatia may choose to vote for either a territorially applicable list or a corresponding national minority list; a voter of unknown or non-declared nationality may vote for either a territorially applicable list or any minority list; a voter who has declared a nationality other than Croat or a recognized minority may vote only for a territorially applicable list (the same as someone who has declared themselves a Croat).[8] Minority voting and minority representation rules have raised controversy and were eventually upheld by the Constitutional Court.[9]
An election silence is enforced on the day before and the day of the elections, ending at 7:00 pm when the polling stations close and the exit polls are published.[10]
Although political parties fund their campaigns using donations or their own assets, the government reimburses them for each parliamentary seat won. For instance, each seat won in the 2011 parliamentary election brought a party 180,000 kuna (c. 24,300 euros). Smaller sums were paid to parties or candidates failing to win any parliamentary seats, provided that they received more than five percent of the votes cast in a constituency.[11]
2020 parliamentary election
| |||||||||
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDZ–HSLS–HDS–HDSSB | 621,035 | 37.26 | 66 | +5 | |||||
| SDP–HSS–GLAS–IDS–HSU–SNAGA–PGS | 414,645 | 24.87 | 41 | –4 | |||||
| DPMŠ–HKS–HRAST−BzH–ZL−SU | 181,493 | 10.89 | 16 | New | |||||
| Bridge of Independent Lists | 123,194 | 7.39 | 8 | –5 | |||||
| Green–Left (M!–RF–NL–ORaH) | 116,483 | 6.99 | 7 | New | |||||
| IP–Smart–Focus | 66,399 | 3.98 | 3 | +3 | |||||
| Enough of Robbery | 37,628 | 2.26 | 0 | –8 | |||||
| Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats | 21,727 | 1.30 | 1 | –8 | |||||
| People's Party – Reformists | 16,900 | 1.01 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Bandić Milan 365 - Labour and Solidarity Party | 9,897 | 0.59 | 0 | –1 | |||||
| Croatian Civic Party | 7,399 | 0.44 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Right League (NHR and HSP) | 7,266 | 0.44 | 0 | New | |||||
| Democrats–HL–RI | 6,594 | 0.40 | 0 | New | |||||
| Authentic Croatian Party of Rights | 5,343 | 0.32 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Pensioners Together Bloc | 5,268 | 0.32 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Croatian Democratic Party | 2,465 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Strength of Slavonia and Baranja | 2,294 | 0.14 | 0 | New | |||||
| Socialist Labour Party of Croatia | 2,149 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Union of Kvarner | 2,044 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |||||
| Movement for a Modern Croatia | 1,307 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| My Beloved Croatia | 978 | 0.06 | 0 | New | |||||
| Authentic Croatian Peasant Party | 958 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| BDSH–HBPS | 768 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Croatian Party of the Future | 732 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||||
| Croatian Civil Resistance Party | 714 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||||
| Independent List of Bura | 626 | 0.04 | 0 | New | |||||
| Free Croatia | 605 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Croatian Perspective Party | 576 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Croatian Community Party | 405 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |||||
| Croatian Party of Order | 338 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Alphabet of Democracy | 219 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |||||
| Independents | 8,524 | 0.51 | 0 | –1 | |||||
| National minorities | – | – | 8 | 0 | |||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 38,713 | – | – | – | |||||
| Total | 1,705,686 | 100 | 151 | 0 | |||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 3,672,555 | 46.44 | – | – | |||||
| Source: Izbori | |||||||||
Next parliamentary election
See article: 2024 Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections are to be held no later than 60 days after the expiration of the 4-year parliamentary term, counting from the day that parliament is constituted with the election of a Speaker or no later than 60 days after the dissolution of parliament by vote of MPs. The 10th Assembly of Parliament was constituted on 22 July 2020 and dissolved on 14 March 2024.[12] The next elections for the Croatian Parliament will be held on 17 April 2024.[13]
Previous parliamentary elections
Since 1990, fourteen parliamentary elections have been held in Croatia. These have included the 1990 elections for a tricameral parliament, three elections of the Chamber of Deputies during the bicameral parliament's existence, seven elections of the unicameral Parliament and two elections of the Chamber of Counties—the upper house of the bicameral parliament.[14]
The elections held in 1990 were the first multi-party elections after 45 years of Communist rule; candidates vied for all 80 seats in the Social-Political Council of Croatia, all 116 seats in the Municipalities Council of Croatia and all 160 seats in the Associated Labour Council of Croatia (since Parliament had three chambers at the time). The first round of the election saw a turnout of 85.5 percent, and the runoff-election turnout was 74.8 percent. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 205 seats, and the League of Communist of Croatia won 107.[14]
Previous Chamber of Deputies and unicameral Sabor elections
Nine parliamentary elections have been held since for the Chamber of Deputies (Croatian: Zastupnički dom) or the unicameral parliament since then—in 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2020. Beginning with the 1992 elections, the number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies (and, later, in the unicameral parliament) was significantly changed—ranging from 127 in 1995 to 153 in 2007 and 151 in 2011. In the Croatian parliamentary elections held since 1992, when the number of seats in parliament was limited below 160, only six parties have won ten seats or more in any single election: the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS), the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), The Bridge(Most).[14]
Several other political parties (besides the HDZ, HSS, HNS, HSLS, Most and SDP) have won parliamentary seats since the 1990 election. Those are (in alphabetical order): the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar (previously known as the Rijeka Democratic Alliance), the Croatian Christian Democratic Union, the Croatian Citizen Party, the Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja, the Croatian Democratic Peasant Party, the Croatian Independent Democrats, the Croatian Party of Pensioners, the Croatian Party of Rights, the Croatian Party of Rights dr. Ante Starčević, Dalmatian Action, the Democratic Centre, the Istrian Democratic Assembly, the Liberal Party, the Party of Liberal Democrats, the Serb Democratic Party, the Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party and the Social Democratic Action of Croatia.[14] The following parties have won the special seats reserved for national minority representatives (also in alphabetical order): the Bosnian Democratic Party of Croatia, the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia, the German People's Union – National Association of Danube Swabians in Croatia, the Independent Democratic Serb Party, the Party of Democratic Action of Croatia and the Serb People's Party.[14] In addition, numerous independents have won seats through party lists, and Ivan Grubišić's nonpartisan list won seats as a territorial election list.[14] Since the parliamentary seats won belong to individuals, not parties, there have been instances where members have become independent or switched to another political party.[15]
| Election | Turnout | Results | Cabinet(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | * | 1st assembly | Cabinet of Stjepan Mesić, Cabinet of Josip Manolić, Cabinet of Franjo Gregurić |
| 1992 | 75.6% | 2nd assembly | Cabinet of Hrvoje Šarinić, Cabinet of Nikica Valentić |
| 1995 | 68.8% | 3rd assembly | Cabinet of Zlatko Mateša |
| 2000 | 70.5% | 4th assembly | Cabinet of Ivica Račan I, Cabinet of Ivica Račan II |
| 2003 | 61.7% | 5th assembly | Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I |
| 2007 | 59.5% | 6th assembly | Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, Cabinet of Jadranka Kosor |
| 2011 | 54.3% | 7th assembly | Cabinet of Zoran Milanović |
| 2015 | 60.8% | 8th assembly | Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković |
| 2016 | 52.6% | 9th assembly | Cabinet of Andrej Plenković I |
| 2020 | 46.4% | 10th assembly | Cabinet of Andrej Plenković II |
| Source: State Election Commission[14] | |||
*In the first multi-party elections in 1990 three parliamentary chambers were elected in a two-round majoritarian system: the Social-Political Council, the Council of Municipalities and the Council of Associated Labour. Turnout for the election each chamber varied. It was as follows: Social-Political council (84.5% in first round in all constituencies, 74.82% in second round in 51 of 80 constituencies), Council of Municipalities (84.1% in first round, 74.6% in second round) and Council of Associated Labour (76.5% in first round in all constituencies, 66% in second round in 103 of 160 constituencies).