ZAGREB, January 8, 2020 - Zoran Milanović's campaign staff will continue their work as the President-Elect's Office as of Tuesday, announced Orsan Miljenić who, along with Nikola Jelić, will communicate with the public on behalf of the Office.

"We have held a meeting of the campaign staff, who now continue their work as the President-Elect's Office," said Miljenić, who was Milanović's campaign manager. He will continue to work as the president-elect's chief of staff, while Jelić, Milanović's presidential campaign spokesman, will continue as spokesman for the Office.

Miljenić said that the public will be kept informed of all of Milanovic's activities in a timely manner, and that Milanovic will resign from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) before his inauguration. According to the Constitution, the president cannot belong to any political party.

The inauguration guest list has not yet been agreed upon.

"It is still early for that, but we have started talking about the guest list. We still have a month and a half, we will be able to do everything on time. We will be cooperating with state protocol," said Miljenić.

Miljenić would not discuss possible members of Milanović's team in the President's Office.

More news about Zoran Milanović can be found in the Politics section.

According to final election results, released at 5:30am CET (Central European Time) on January 6, 2020; former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović has defeated incumbent Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and won his first five-year term as President of Croatia.

Here is a breakdown of the final election results with 100% votes processed (updated 5:30am CET):

52.67% - Zoran Milanović – Former Prime Minister | SDP
47.33% - Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović – Incumbent President | HDZ

Former Croatia Prime Minister Began Career as Diplomat

Zoran Milanović, born in 1966; was Prime Minister of Croatia from 2011 to 2016. He was also the leader of SDP (Social Democratic Party of Croatia), the largest center-left political party, from 2007 to 2016. He served as leader of the opposition twice, from 2007 to 2011 and for several months in 2016.

Milanović began his career in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as advisor at the Croatian Mission to the European Union and NATO and was assistant to the Foreign Minister of Croatia for political multilateral affairs.

Oversaw Croatia Entry Into EU in 2013

In June 2007, Milanović was elected President of SDP and formed a coalition uniting four center-left political parties, which won an absolute majority in the 2011 parliamentary election. He became Prime Minister later that year and oversaw Croatia’s entry into the EU in 2013.

His cabinet introduced changes to the tax code and began several large infrastructure projects. Milanović also supported the expansion of the rights of same-sex couples and introduced the Life Partnership Act.

Post-Political Career as International Consultant

He served as Prime Minister until 2015 and led the four-party coalition until early parliamentary elections in 2016. Milanović announced his withdrawal from politics following a surprise defeat. He began a career as a consultant and worked as advisor to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

In June 2019, Milanović announced his campaign for President of Croatia under the slogan “A President with Character.” He ran on a center-left platform, his record as prime minister and promised to be tough on corruption.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Donald Trump | Facebook

First Woman and Youngest Croatian President

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, born in 1968; has been the President of Croatia since 2015. She was the first woman and the youngest person to ever assume the office. In 2017, Forbes magazine listed Grabar-Kitarović as the world's 39th most powerful woman.

Before her election, Grabar-Kitarović held several governmental and diplomatic positions including Minister of European Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Croatian ambassador to the United States, and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy.

She was the only female candidate in the Croatian presidential elections held in December 2014 and January 2015 and was runner-up in the first round. She narrowly defeated incumbent President Ivo Josipović in the second round.

International Press Attention at 2018 World Cup

In 2018, Grabar-Kitarović received international press attention for attending the FIFA World Cup quarter-final and final matches, where she wore colors of the Croatian flag in support of the national team, who finished the tournament in second place.

Gaffes and Controversial Endorsements

Her presidential re-election campaign has weathered a series of gaffes and missteps. Last month, she claimed at a campaign rally in Osijek that she had secured jobs for Croatian citizens to work from home for 8000 EUR, after they had received training abroad. However, she later declined to provide details.

While she has positioned herself as a centrist, she welcomed endorsements from several controversial and far right-wing political figures. Marko Perković Thompson, a singer known for his use of WWII Croatian fascist symbols and language in performances, backed her re-election. And Grabar-Kitarović’s website featured a video message from Julienne Bušić, American-born author and activist, who hijacked a TWA flight in 1976 to promote Croatian independence. The party of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, who is facing corruption charges, also endorsed her candidacy.

Former Prime Minister Maintained Solid Lead in First Round

According to exit polls in the first round of elections, held on December 22, 2019; Zoran Milanović maintained comfortable leads over Grabar-Kitarović and Miroslav Škoro, his two main opponents. Grabar-Kitarović was initially polling within one percentage point of Miroslav Škoro, which led to doubts about whether she would advance to the second round. According to final election results, Milanović received 29.55% of the vote and finished ahead of Grabar-Kitarović (26.65%) by nearly three percentage points. In turn, she eliminated Škoro (24.45%) from the run-off by a lead of just over two percentage points.

Grabar-Kitarović and Škoro, a popular folk musician, competed for support from center-right and far-right political parties and organizations, which led some analysts to believe that Škoro supporters would automatically shift their allegiance to the president in the run-off. However, pre-election polls had generated inconclusive results; with the President and former Prime Minister polling within a margin of error and leaving behind a large block of undecided voters. While Škoro confirmed that he would vote at the polls; he declined to endorse either candidate – and said that he would void his ballot.

Both candidates agreed to three debates, which were held on Monday, Thursday and Friday preceding the election. Mutual accusations of incompetence, impropriety and dishonesty dominated the discussions, which offered little on specific policy proposals.

Follow our Politics page for updates on this presidential election and upcoming 2020 parliament elections.

ZAGREB, November 14, 2019 - The government on Thursday decided to call the first round of the presidential elections for 22 December, and deadlines relevant for the procedure start running on 21 November.

The official campaign in the run-up to the first round of the elections will take a fortnight.

Presidential hopefuls can collect signatures of voters for their candidacies from 22 November until midnight of 3 December, and the minimum number required is 10,000 signatures. The State Electoral Commission has a 48-hour deadline as of 3 December to announce the official list of eligible candidates.

The official campaigning starts with the publication of that list and ends at the midnight 20 December. A ban on electioneering is imposed on the day before election day and until the closure of polling stations.

The second round of the elections is envisaged for 5 January.

In the event that not one of the presidential candidates wins more than 50% of the votes on 22 December, the two first candidates will compete in the run-off vote in two weeks' time.

The incumbent president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović won her first term on 11 January 2015. She has recently officially confirmed that she would run for a second term.

Her main contenders are Zoran Milanović, a former prime minister and former leader of the Social Democratic Party, as well as Miroslav Škoro, a singer-turned-politician who is perceived as a conservative candidate. Croatian member of European Parliament, Mislav Kolakušić, a judge-turned-politician, has also announced his candidacy, and he is perceived as the candidate of anti-establishment movements.

Also, a former diplomat Ante Simonić said he would compete in the elections.

An independent candidate Dejan Kovač has been supported by the HSLS party, and the unofficial list includes also lawyer Dalija Orešković, who was at the helm of the Conflict of Interest Commission, starlet Ava Karabatić, three members of parliament Ivan Pernar, Tomislav Panenić and Vlaho Orepić, and filmmaker Dario Juričan.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 16, 2019 - It is unlikely that the necessary parliamentary two-thirds majority will in the near future change the way the President of the Republic is elected and his/her constitutional powers, legal experts and experts on constitutional law said at a round table organised by the GONG election-monitoring non-governmental organisation in Zagreb on Monday, ahead of presidential elections.

Asked if the way the President is elected and the extent of his/her constitutional powers should be changed, the experts took different positions but were unanimous in the assessment that currently it would be very difficult to gather the parliamentary majority needed to change the way the President is elected and their constitutional powers, an idea advocated by conservative presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro.

Announcing recently that he would run for President, Škoro said that if elected, he would seek greater powers for himself, such as the possibility to call a referendum without the consent of the prime minister, call and chair government sessions, and nominate candidates for Constitutional Court judges.

Disagreement among participants in the round table was the greatest on the issue of electing the President in direct elections, with political scientist Goran Čular saying that the President of the Republic should be elected by the parliament.

Explaining his position, he cited the unnecessary tension caused by electoral support expressed in a large number of votes and the role in the political system the President was entitled to under the Constitution.

Conversely, legal expert Mato Palić sad that electing the President directly was a much better option than electing them by parliament, notably given the current ruling majority with members who, he said, had nonchalantly tricked their voters.

Palić said that a directly elected head of state should have more powers and have the right to veto laws as well as represent Croatia at sessions of the European Council.

As for the right to call referendums, Palić said that the numerous existing outstanding issues concerning referendums should be resolved, after which one could see if the President of the Republic should be given the right to call referendums.

Davor Boban of the Zagreb Faculty of Political Science, too, underlined the need to clearly define conditions for calling a referendum but warned that Croatia would set a precedent in Europe if it allowed its president to call a referendum on their own.

Political scientist Berto Šalaj responded to those views, warning that today's round table was only an academic debate as there was no will in the parliament to vote in such constitutional changes.

Šalaj nonetheless agreed that the current model of electing the President directly is poor. "The disproportion between the President's great democratic legitimacy and their small powers results in their political frustration, which jeopardises the efficiency of the political system," Šalaj said.

Attending the round table were also members of parliament Arsen Bauk of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Robert Podolnjak of MOST, who agreed that it would be very difficult to muster the two-thirds majority support in the parliament to change the President's constitutional powers as well as the way they are elected.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

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