European Forum

Presidential elections in Croatia: Ivo Josipovic (SDP) won 32.4 % in the first round

On 27 December, Ivo Josipovic, Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for the President of the Republic of Croatia, captured 32.4 percent of votes in the first round of presidential elections in Croatia, and became the best-placed candidate among 12 of them. Since no candidate won more than 50 percent of votes, the second round of the presidential elections will be held on January 10, 2010.

As a well-known law professor and composer, Josipovic has placed justice in the focus of his presidential campaign. Since his convincing victory on the primaries within the Party (internal party elections for the presidential candidate, held in July 2009), Josipovic has been promoting a concept of a fair and just society, emphasizing the importance of reforms leading the country towards the membership of the European Union, which Croatia is likely to gain in 2012, during the next presidents mandate.

In the second round Josipovic will be competing against an independent candidate Milan Bandic, who won 14.8 percent of the votes. Until the beginning of the race Bandic was member of the SDP. However, when the party convention named Josipovic as its candidate, Bandic, currently mayor of Zagreb, decided to stand as an independent and was thus expelled from the party. A prominent loser among the 12 candidates in the race was Andrija Hebrang, candidate of the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ. His 12.04 per cent share of the vote was not enough to get him a place in the second round.

Both candidates have pledged to back Croatia's bid for European Union membership, which it hopes to achieve in 2012.

Source: SDP Croatia and BIRN