In the run-up to Croatia's presidential election later this month, and in a first for the way elections are covered in Croatia's media, N1 television prepared a series of focus group programmes. Over three shows, scheduled to air every Thursday on December 5-19, the innovative format will see carefully selected panels of voters brought into the studio to voice their thoughts on candidates, their talking points, and their platforms.

The programmes were produced in cooperation with the market research firm Masmi which used its database of 4,000 people to select 12 guests to appear on the show, and guests were chosen so that they share a single criteria but otherwise represent all sections of society as well as all parts of the country.

Announcing Croatia’s first-ever focus group discussion, aired on December 5, show host Hrvoje Kresic came on N1’s morning show Novi Dan to explain that people selected to feature in the first episode were disaffected voters who all share pessimism and apathy about Croatia’s political and social landscape.

Eleven candidates have been confirmed and cleared on Thursday to enter the race for Croatia’s head of state, with election day set for December 22. According to latest polling, the incumbent Grabar-Kitarovic, who will seek another five-year term, is in the lead at around 32 percent of the vote.

She is followed by former prime minister Zoran Milanovic, supported by the largest opposition party Social Democrats (SDP), currently around 22 percent; singer-turned-politician Miroslav Skoro who runs on a right-wing platform and is currently around 17 percent; and former judge and MEP, Mislav Kolakusic, who has built up a large social media following with anti-corruption messages, at about 7 percent.

Unless a candidate wins an absolute majority of 50 percent plus one vote, the top two hopefuls will go to a run-off, scheduled for January 5.

‘Cheated and isolated’

In the show, the voters were asked a series of questions on candidates running in the election and about their opinions on the current state of affairs in the country. In a show of hands on whether they felt generally angry, seven out of 12 said yes.

“I’m angry because my oldest child received an MA in economics. But he only managed to find seasonal jobs. And now the best they are offering him is to take a course to re-train as a caregiver, because apparently Croatia lacks caregivers,” said Anita, an economist.

The recurring themes in the discussion were endemic corruption, clientelism, and overall lack of opportunity. The level of apathy shocked show host Kresic, who talked about the experience of moderating the discussion in Novi Dan.

“People we talked to feel cheated, neglected, forgotten, isolated… Several times they said that unless you are member of a political party you have zero chance to achieve anything in this country… One of the people in the studio was a war veteran, he spent years in the front lines, and when I asked him whether he would go to war again to defend his country knowing what it looks like today, 20 years on, he resolutely said “No.” I found that to be shocking,” Kresic said.

Several middle-aged people continued to explain why they felt frustrated, and some whose children had already left abroad said that they considered following them.

“If you look at the way things are in eastern Croatia, for example, where you have local ‘sheriffs,’ who are backed by their party, who run the authorities. Their children are free to do whatever they like, whereas children of ordinary people can only dream about getting a shot,” a war veteran, Andjelko, said.

“My daughter abroad will not vote in this election, and she didn’t want to vote back when she lived here. Because she feels bitter. And she has every right to be bitter. Because she spent the best years of her life at the university, studying hard, and now she sees no future here. And she actually keeps trying to talk me into following her and leaving. She tells me ‘Mom, it may be just five years for you, but at least you’ll spend those five years living a normal life’. It just feels stupid to listen to our politicians, I have no idea who they are talking to, I just don’t see myself in what they are saying.” said Marina, a kindergarten teacher.

Invisible campaigning

When the discussion turned to candidates, the panel was asked if they would be prepared to let any of the running candidates babysit their child for thirty minutes. The question was met with laughter and sarcastic comments by most respondents.

“Very few of the voters we asked had anything good to say about any one of the leading candidates… But these were tiny traces of positivity, no candidate managed to stir up any really positive emotional response… It seems that everyone in the studio thought that whoever comes into office has to be corrupt to begin with, because the general idea is that nobody can win an election without being part of the system that has failed them,” Kresic said.

When asked to summarise the key takeaways of the first show, Kresic said that two things were apparent.

“First of all, when I asked if they could name all the candidates, they only knew a couple of names, they were only aware of a few candidates who get most publicity, and they had no idea about any issues, messages, or actual campaigning. The campaigns are invisible,” Kresic said.

“Another thing is this enormous rage that they felt… People are so angry because they see that while an ordinary person might get fined for minor offences, they are bombarded daily in the media with stories of public officials who are under investigation – and rightly so – for possibly stealing millions or tens of millions… People see that, they see what’s happening, and that’s why they are losing faith in this country,” Kresic said.

The following show will feature voters who are openly saying who are they voting for, and the last show, to be aired on December 19, three days before the election, will feature undecided voters – people who are definitely going to vote but don’t know who for yet.

Polls estimate that swing voters account for 7-10 percent of the likely turnout, which may prove crucial in deciding the outcome of the second round, considering that no single candidate will be close to winning in the first round of vote.