Croatian presidential election, 1992

Croatian presidential election, 1992

2 August 1992

Nominee Franjo Tuđman Dražen Budiša Savka Dabčević-Kučar Party HDZ HSLS HNS Popular vote 1,519,100 585,535 161,242 Percentage 56.73% 21.87% 6.02%

President before election Franjo Tuđman HDZ Elected President Franjo Tuđman HDZ

Presidential elections were held in Croatia for the first time on 2 August 1992 alongside simultaneous parliamentary elections.^[1] The result was a victory for incumbent Franjo Tuđman of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), who received 57.8% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president of Croatia. Voter turnout was 74.9%.^[2]

The 1,519,000 votes received by Tuđman remains the highest number of votes won by any president to date. Having previously been selected as president by Parliament, he was sworn in for his first proper term as president on 12 August 1992 at Saint Mark's square in Zagreb.

Conduct

The elections were criticised by international observers, who noted several problems, including issues with opposition access to state media, the timing of the election and the impartiality of officials.^[3] The timing was deemed to be favourable to the HDZ government, who had delayed approving electoral laws in violation of the country's new constitution.^[3] The period of time between the announcement of the elections and the election date itself was considered "unusually short", making it difficult for opposition parties and election officials to prepare.^[3] The elections were also scheduled for a holiday, when a significant number of people would be away from their home towns and unable to vote.^[3]

Results

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Franjo Tuđman	Croatian Democratic Union	1,519,100	57.8
Dražen Budiša	Croatian Social Liberal Party	585,535	22.3
Savka Dabčević-Kučar	Croatian People's Party	161,242	6.1
Dobroslav Paraga	Croatian Party of Rights	144,695	5.5
Silvije Degen	Socialist Party of Croatia	108,979	4.1
Marko Veselica	Croatian Democratic Party	45,593	1.7
Ivan Cesar	Croatian Christian Democratic Party	43,134	1.6
Antun Vujić	Social Democrats of Croatia	18,783	0.7
Invalid/blank votes		50,703	–
Total		2,677,764	100
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, p419; Official results[4]

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p410 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p419
3. Elections in the Republic of Croatia: 2 August 1992 International Republican Institute
4. "1992 Izbori za predsjednika Republike Hrvatske" [1992 Elections for the Croatian President] (PDF). Croatian State Election Committee. 2 August 1992.