Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 27 December 2009 and 10 January 2010. Twelve candidates participated in the first round, prior to a run-off between first-round winner Ivo Josipović and runner-up Milan Bandić. In the run-off, Josipović won a landslide victory, receiving 60.3% of the vote becoming the first elected president nominated by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP). The incumbent president Stjepan Mesić, who was first elected in 2000 as the candidate of the Croatian People's Party and re-elected in 2005 as an independent, was ineligible to seek re-election to a third term due to term limits.
As the incumbent was ineligible for re-election, several candidates took the opportunity to run for the presidency. Most mainstream Croatian political parties participated in the elections either by nominating a candidate or endorsing one. The relatively low nomination threshold (ten thousand signatures in a country of four million voters), turmoil in the largest political party (Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ) due to the departure of long-time leader Ivo Sanader and the ongoing economic crisis, as well as a significant one-man revolt in the second-largest party (Social Democratic Party of Croatia, SDP), led to a record number of candidates contesting the elections.
In the first round, the left of centre vote was split between 3–4 candidates, while the right of centre vote was split between 5–6 candidates. Owing to the increased fragmentation of the right, two candidates who were both long-time members of SDP progressed to the run-off. The election polls accurately predicted the winner, while the runner-up projections were usually within a statistical margin of error, lifting many candidates' hopes and enabling a sense of drama stirred by the Croatian media.
The second round was marked by more intense polarization. The Bandić campaign shifted their political message significantly to the right, with the Josipović campaign put on the defensive. However, a sudden reappearance of Sanader interrupted the election campaign and cemented Josipović's advantage; in the end, he won by a large margin, and was inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of Croatia on 18 February.
Background and rules
After serving two consecutive five-year terms, the incumbent president Stjepan Mesić was not eligible to run in the 2009 election.
The elections officially began on 4 November, with the start of the period for the collecting of signatures needed to become an official candidate. Each candidate had 12 days to collect 10,000 written signatures from citizens who are eligible to vote. After the 12 days expired, the signatures were verified and on November 18 the State Electoral Commission announced the 12 candidates that managed to collect the necessary number of signatures. The next day the official 37-day campaign began and went until 24 hours before Election Day, which happened to be Christmas Day, midnight.
The first round was held on 27 December and no candidate managed to obtain 50% + one vote, so a second round was held on 10 January 2010 between the two candidates that achieved the most votes, Ivo Josipović and Milan Bandić. Each candidate could have withdrawn from the election at any time.
Campaign before the official start
Although officially the campaign started on 19 November, in reality it began as early as summer of 2009. The main political parties had not yet announced their nominees for president in the summer, but certain high-ranking politicians had expressed their interest in running very early.
The governing HDZ saw considerable drama in selecting their candidate for president. Ever since late 2008, there was much speculation that prime minister Ivo Sanader would run for the presidency, although he frequently denied such speculation. After the local elections, the speculation grew as no other candidates publicly hinted they would run. However, Ivo Sanader unexpectedly decided not only to not run for the presidency, but to resign as prime minister and retire from active politics altogether, announcing his decision on 1 July 2009.