The presidential candidates have 12 days to collect 10,000 voter signatures to qualify for the election on 29 December. This deadline begins on Friday.

So far, 13 people have announced their candidacy, although each voter may only support one candidacy petition with their signature.

On the first day of signature collection, the candidates are expected to be active from the early hours of the morning. The incumbent President Zoran Milanovic, who is running for re-election under the slogan “A President for the President”,” will visit Cakovec.

Start in a different cities

His challengers include HDZ candidate Dragan Primorac, Ivana Kekin from the Mozemo party and independent candidate Marija Selak-Raspudic, who have started collecting signatures in Zagreb. Meanwhile, Miro Bulj from the Most party has started his campaign in Sinj, where he is mayor.

Primorac will address voters at the Flower Square in Zagreb later today and present his campaign under the slogan “For a new president who unites”.” The candidate of the Mozemo party, Ivana Kekin, who is described as the “president of a new generation”,” will also have a stand at the same square.

Independent candidate Marija Selak-Raspudic has chosen Ban Jelacic Square to start collecting signatures with her slogan “More than character”,” while Miro Bulj plans to present himself to voters in Sinj as “A president from the people – defending Croatia”

In addition to these candidates, eight others have announced their intention to run for the presidency. The latest to announce her candidacy is Karolina Vidovic-Kristo, a former member of parliament and founder and leader of the Determination and Justice Party(OIP), a non-parliamentary party.

Other candidates are the lawyer and historian Tomislav Jonjic, Drazen Keleminec, chairman of the Authentic HSP, Mislav Kolakusic from the Justice and Rights Party, the entrepreneur Niko Tokic-Kartelo and the former journalist and president of the Croatian Union of Journalists Anton Filic.

The deadline is 10 December

Branka Lozo, candidate of the parliamentary party DOMiNO, and the independent Aurora Weiss are also running.

All Croatian citizens who have reached the voting age can support a candidate by signing their nomination, but each voter may only sign for one candidate.

The deadline for submitting presidential nominations to the State Electoral Commission (DIP) is midnight on 10 December.

After receiving the nominations, the DIP has 48 hours to verify the signatures and publish the official list of presidential candidates. Once the list has been published, the official election campaign will begin, which will last until midnight on 27 December.

During the election weekend – Saturday 28 December and Sunday 29 December – any form of advertising, publication or estimation of the results is prohibited until the polling stations close.

The President of the Republic is elected by a majority vote, i.e. the winner must receive more than 50% of all votes cast. If no candidate achieves this in the first round on 29 December, the two best candidates will proceed to a run-off election scheduled for 12 January 2025.