Croatian presidential election, 2000

Croatian presidential election, 2000

24 January and 7 February 2000

Nominee Stjepan Mesić Dražen Budiša Party HNS HSLS Popular vote 1,433,372 1,125,969 Percentage 56.01% 43.99%

Results of the second round in all of Croatia's counties: the candidate with the majority of votes in each administrative division.       Stjepan Mesić       Dražen Budiša

President before election Zlatko Tomčić - acting HSS Elected President Stjepan Mesić HNS

Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 24 January 2000. They were the third presidential elections since independence in 1991, and were also the first early presidential elections, as they were held due to the death of incumbent president Franjo Tuđman on 10 December 1999. As no candidate passed the 50% threshold, a second round was held on 7 February, the first time a second round had been required in the country's history. The result was a victory for Stjepan Mesić of the Croatian People's Party, who received 56% of the vote. Voter turnout was 63.0% in the first round and 60.9% in the second round. Mesić was inaugurated as the second president of Croatia on 18 February 2000 at Saint Mark's Square in front of the justices of the Constitutional court.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Stjepan Mesić	Croatian People's Party	1,100,671	41.3	1,433,372	56.01
Dražen Budiša	Croatian Social Liberal Party	741,837	27.8	1,125,969	43.99
Mate Granić	Croatian Democratic Union	601,588	22.6
Slaven Letica	Independent	110,782	4.2
Anto Đapić	Croatian Party of Rights	49,288	1.8
Ante Ledić	Independent	22,875	0.9
Tomislav Merčep	Croatian Popular Party	22,672	0.9
Ante Prkačin	New Croatia	7,401	0.3
Zvonimir Šeparović	Independent	7,235	0.3
Invalid/blank votes		13,212	–	29,779	–
Total		2,677,561	100	2,589,120	100
Source: Croatian State Election Committee