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All153 seats in theCroatian Parliament 77 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 59.48% ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Parliamentary elections were held inCroatia on 25 November 2007 and for overseas voters on 24 and 25 November.[1] Thecampaign officially started on 3 November. ThePresident of Croatia announced elections on 17 October and 14 days were allowed for candidate lists to be submitted.
Elections were held in10 electoral districts inside Croatia (each providing 14 members of parliament),[2] one electoral district for Croatian citizens living abroad (with a maximum 12 members of parliament), and one electoral district for national minorities (8 members of parliament). Candidate listshave to win more than 5% of the votes in at least one electoral district in order to be represented in the parliament. 4,478,386 people in total were eligible to vote, 405,092 of whom are in the diaspora, 280,000 living in Bosnia-Herzegovina.[3][4]
To prevent possibleelectoral fraud, such as votes from the deceased, or people voting twice in different locations, the Croatians outside Croatia who were eligible to vote had to register no later than 14 days before the election.
In three locales, the election were repeated on 9 December 2007; while this could not and did not change the final result as far as mandates are concerned, it meant the final result became known only on 11 December 2007.[5]
The governingcentre-rightCroatian Democratic Union emerged as the relative winner of the election, but failed to obtain an outright majority. The oppositioncentre-leftSocial Democratic Party of Croatia achieved their best result ever as a party, but were unsuccessful in their attempt to become the strongest single party. The election resulted in the formation of theSanader II cabinet supported byHDZ,HSS,HSLS and the representatives ofnational minorities.
Croatian political parties and independent lists had to formally submit their candidates and eventual pre-election coalitions not later than 30 October. 3585 people from political parties or independent lists applied for the elections (22 people per seat). There were 235 political party lists, 16 independent lists and 72 candidates for minority seats. 29.93% of the candidates were women. The average age of the candidates was 43.41 years old; 44.70 for men, and 40.40 for women. The oldest candidate was 89, and the youngest 18. The State Electoral Committee had to confirm the lists before midnight of 2 November.[6][7]
Parliamentary parties are with boldedacronyms.
On 11 December 2007GONG andTransparency International Croatia had published media spending of all Croatian political parties during the election period. This numbers are[3]:

Since 1999 Croatia has been divided into 10 geographically-based electorates with around 250 000 - 300 000 registered voters. Each electorate elects up to 14 MPs chosen by thestandard D'Hondt formula.[2]
In the 11th electorate, up to 12 members are chosen byproportional representation - depending on a number of voters in Croatia - to represent Croatian citizens residing abroad (known as thediaspora electorate) and 8 members from ethnic/national minorities.
In Croatia, the official threshold is 5% for parties and coalitions. However, since the country is divided in 10 voting districts with 14 elected representatives each, sometimes the threshold can be higher, depending on the number of "fallen lists" (lists that don't get at least 5%). If many votes are lost in this manner, a list that gets barely more than 5% will still get a seat, whereas if there is a small number of parties that all pass the threshold, the actual ("natural") threshold is close to 7.15%.
This system is greatly favorable to regional parties, i.e. parties that gain their votes in a single electorate (see IDS, HDSSB), and it is disfavorable to parties that have greater numbers but are widespread throughout the nation (see HSU and HSP).
This made also the forming of post-electoral coalitions somewhat unpredictable, as the overall success of one of the greatest parties can effectively turn out to be counterproductive if it is achieved at the expense of their foreseeable partner, causing them to not pass the threshold in some or all electorates (it happened to the HDZ-led coalition in previous2003 election).[citation needed]
| Date | Polling Organisation/Client | Sample size | HDZ | SDP | HNS-LD | HSS | HSP | HSLS | HSU | Other | Undecided | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 32.5% | 33.4% | 5.9% | 6.6% | 3.8% | (HSS-HSLS) | 4.8% | 0.9% | ||
| 11/2007 | Media Metar | 1,300 | 33.9% | 36.2% | 6.8% | 5.4% | 5.2% | (HSS-HSLS) | 5.7% | 2.3% | ||
| 11/2007 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 28.5% | 31.2% | 5.2% | 5.5% | 4.6% | (HSS-HSLS) | 6.2% | 2.7% | ||
| 10/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 28.7% | 30.9% | 5.1% | 5.6% | 5.0% | (HSS-HSLS) | 5.9% | 2.2% | ||
| 10/2007 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.4% | 30.1% | 5.8% | 7.3% | 6.4% | (HSS-HSLS) | 6.0% | 3.7% | ||
| 9/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 26.5% | 31.6% | 5.3% | 5.9% | 6.9% | (HSS-HSLS) | 6.5% | 5.1% | ||
| 9/2007 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.6% | 29.2% | 5.6% | 7.8% | 6.8% | (HSS-HSLS) | 5.6% | 3.6% | ||
| 8/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 24% | 29% | 5% | 9% | 8% | (HSS-HSLS) | 8% | 5.0% | ||
| 7/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 25.5% | 30.1% | 5.8% | 6.8% | 7.6% | (HSS-HSLS) | 6.4% | 4.6% | ||
| 6/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 23.2% | 30.0% | 6.3% | 5.1% | 9.0% | (HSS-HSLS) | 6.9% | 6.8% | ||
| 5/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 24.5% | 28.7% | 8.5% | 6.4% | 7.3% | (HSS-HSLS) | 6.5% | 4.2% | ||
| 4/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 23.1% | 20.4% | 9.1% | 10.4% | 8.5% | (HSS-HSLS) | 7.6% | 2.7% | ||
| 3/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 22.8% | 18.8% | 10.4% | 7.7% | 6.6% | 3.8% | 7.6% | 4.0% | ||
| 2/2007 | Puls | 1,300 | 23.4% | 19.5% | 9% | 9.6% | 8.8% | 4.2% | 6.3% | 3.9% | ||
| 12/2006 | Puls | 1,300 | 21% | 16% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 5% | 6% | 5.0% | ||
| 12/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 23.9% | 24.3% | 8.6% | 6.4% | 8.2% | 3.5% | 5.2% | 13.7% | 0.4% | |
| 10/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.1% | 25.7% | 8.6% | 5.9% | 8.0% | 4.5% | 5.1% | 10.4% | 0.4% | |
| 9/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.4% | 25.5% | 7.9% | 5.8% | 8.1% | 4.1% | 5.0% | 11.3% | 0.9% | |
| 8/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.3% | 25.2% | 8.1% | 5.7% | 8.1% | 4.0% | 5.1% | 11.1% | 1.1% | |
| 7/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.2% | 25.3% | 8.1% | 5.2% | 8.2% | 3.9% | 4.8% | 12.4% | 0.9% | |
| 6/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.2% | 26.1% | 7.6% | 5.4% | 8.2% | 3.9% | 5.1% | 11.7% | 0.1% | |
| 5/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.0% | 26.7% | 6.9% | 5.4% | 8.0% | 3.7% | 4.8% | 13.4% | 1.7% | |
| 4/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.2% | 27.5% | 7.3% | 4.3% | 8.0% | 3.5% | 4.1% | 13.5% | 2.3% | |
| 3/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.8% | 26.5% | 6.7% | 5.6% | 8.5% | 4.6% | 5.1% | 12.5% | 0.7% | |
| 2/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.4% | 25.5% | 7.4% | 5.7% | 9.3% | 4.6% | 3.9% | 11.8% | 0.9% | |
| 1/2006 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 24.1% | 26.3% | 7.2% | 5.4% | 10.4% | 3.5% | 4.0% | 14.2% | 2.2% | |
| 12/2005 | Puls | 1,000 | 19.4% | 22.2% | 5.7% | 9.7% | 14.2% | 4.5% | 7.9% | 2.8% | ||
| 12/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 21.6% | 26.9% | 6.6% | 5.2% | 12.2% | 2.9% | 4.1% | 14.1% | 5.3% | |
| 11/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 24.9% | 26.8% | 7% | 4.7% | 11% | 2.6% | 3.7% | 13.4% | 1.9% | |
| 10/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.5% | 25.1% | 7.3% | 5.1% | 11.7% | 2% | 3.7% | 12.1% | 0.4% | |
| 9/2005 | Mediana fides | 1,006 | 26.9% | 34.1% | - | - | 12.7% | - | - | 7.2% | ||
| 9/2005 | Puls | 20.0% | 22.0% | 7.0% | 8.0% | 13.0% | 4.0% | 10.0% | 2.0% | |||
| 9/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 24.4% | 25.6% | 8.1% | 4.7% | 11.6% | 2.2% | 3.6% | 12.1% | 1.2% | |
| 8/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 24.8% | 25.4% | 8% | 5.1% | 10.9% | 2.8% | 3.1% | 12.2% | 0.6% | |
| 7/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.4% | 25.3% | 7.3% | 5.2% | 10.8% | 2.4% | 3.2% | 11.8% | 0.1% | |
| 6/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.3% | 24.8% | 6.8% | 6.5% | 10.8% | 2.1% | 3.6% | 13% | 0.5% | |
| 5/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 25.3% | 25% | 7.3% | 6.2% | 10.8% | 2.5% | 3.5% | 10.7% | 0.3% | |
| 4/2005 | Mediana | - | 13.8% | 19.8% | 3.4% | 2.5% | 7% | - | - | 6.0% | ||
| 4/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 26.2% | 26% | 8.2% | 5.6% | 9.3% | 2.4% | 2.1% | 13.7% | 0.2% | |
| 3/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 27.1% | 26.8% | 8.7% | 4.9% | 9.7% | 2.1% | 2.1% | 13.4% | 0.3% | |
| 2/2005 | Večernji list | 1,300 | 24.6% | 26.7% | 9.8% | - | 8.3% | - | - | 3.1% | ||
| 2/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 27.7% | 27.4% | 9.9% | 5.6% | 8% | 2.4% | 1.5% | 12.2% | 0.3% | |
| 1/2005 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 27.1% | 25.8% | 9.3% | 6.6% | 8.1% | 3% | 1.2% | 14.4% | 1.3% | |
| 12/2004 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 27.4% | 25% | 10.3% | 4,8% | 7.1% | 4.2% | 1.2% | 14.1% | 2.4% | |
| 11/2004 | Večernji list | 1,300 | 22.8% | 22.4% | - | - | - | - | - | 0.4% | ||
| 11/2004 | CRO Demoskop | 1,300 | 28.2% | 24.2% | 9.6% | 5.1% | 8.2% | 2.8% | 2% | 13,9% | 4.0% | |
| 10/2004 | Večernji list | 1,300 | 27.0% | 18.9% | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1% | ||
| 7/2004 | Promocija plus | 1,300 | 33.3% | 23.2% | 10.5% | 4.2% | 3.0% | 7.3 | 2.1% | 10.1% | ||
| 6/2004 | Promocija plus | 1,300 | 31.8% | 22.8% | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0% | ||
| 3/2004 | Promocija plus | 1,300 | 32.9% | 21.6% | 8.5% | 3.3% | 6.5% | 1.5% | 3.8% | 11.3% | ||
| 2/2004 | Promocija plus | 1,300 | 31.9% | 18.9% | 10.5% | 4.2% | 4.4% | - | 4.4% | 13.0% | ||
| 23 Nov | 2003 parliamentary election | 2,478,967 | 33.9% | 22.6% | 8.0% | 7.2% | 6.4% | 4.0% | 4.0% | N/A | 11.3% |





Most opinion polls in the days before the election predicted a very tight race between the governingCroatian Democratic Union and the oppositionSocial Democratic Party of Croatia. On the night of the election, after all the polls around the country closed, all major television networks released the results of the exit polls. All of them showed the social democrats with a slight lead.[11] None of the exit polls, however, took into account the votes coming from the citizens living abroad, which tend to vote for the more conservative option. The first official results published at 9 p.m. showed HDZ with a slight lead.[12]Ivo Sanader gave a victory speech close to midnight saying he will be forming the nextgovernment. Despite the election loss, SDP individually as a party achieved its best result ever, even better than the2000 election result when SDP led a victorious coalition. Most smaller parties lost seats, theCroatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats from the2003 election,the Croatian Peasant Party also lost 4 seats and the far-rightCroatian Party of Rights suffered its worst election results since the 1990s losing 7 seats and winning only 1.[citation needed]
National minorities elected 8 representatives through a separate election system: Milorad Pupovac (25,3% of votes), Vojislav Stanimirović (21,5%) and Ratko Gajica (15,8%) for theSerb national minority, Deneš Šoja (47,8%) for theHungarian minority, Furio Radin (88,8%) for theItalian minority, Zdenka Čuhnil (26%) for theCzech andSlovak minorities, Nazif Memedi (12,8%) for theAustrian,Bulgarian,German,Jewish,Polish,Roma,Romanian,Rusyn,Russian,Turkish,Ukrainian,Vlach minorities and Šemso Tanković (30,9%) for theAlbanian,Bosniak,Macedonian,Montenegrin andSlovene minorities.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croatian Democratic Union | 907,743 | 36.62 | 66 | |
| Social Democratic Party | 776,690 | 31.33 | 56 | |
| Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats | 168,440 | 6.79 | 7 | |
| HSS–HSLS–ZS–ZDS–PGS | 161,814 | 6.53 | 8 | |
| HSU–DSU | 101,091 | 4.08 | 1 | |
| Croatian Party of Rights | 86,865 | 3.50 | 1 | |
| Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja | 44,552 | 1.80 | 3 | |
| Istrian Democratic Assembly | 38,267 | 1.54 | 3 | |
| Democratic Centre–Greens | 21,929 | 0.88 | 0 | |
| SU–ISDNS | 21,882 | 0.88 | 0 | |
| Croatian Youth Party | 16,247 | 0.66 | 0 | |
| Only Croatia – Movement for Croatia | 15,902 | 0.64 | 0 | |
| Women's Democratic Party–Greens of Croatia | 10,099 | 0.41 | 0 | |
| LJEVICA–SRP–HSD–ISDF | 9,855 | 0.40 | 0 | |
| Independent Democratic Serb Party | 9,115 | 0.37 | 0 | |
| Croatian Pure Party of Rights | 8,943 | 0.36 | 0 | |
| Authentic Croatian Peasant Party | 7,847 | 0.32 | 0 | |
| ASH–JSD–DSŽ–ZS–HRS | 7,354 | 0.30 | 0 | |
| Green List | 5,972 | 0.24 | 0 | |
| Youth Action | 5,096 | 0.21 | 0 | |
| HKDS–KSU | 3,370 | 0.14 | 0 | |
| Alphabet of Democracy | 2,905 | 0.12 | 0 | |
| Croatian Rights–Croatian Rights Movement | 2,697 | 0.11 | 0 | |
| PGS–SBHS–MDS–DLS | 1,896 | 0.08 | 0 | |
| Economic Party | 1,784 | 0.07 | 0 | |
| Democratic Party of the Slavonian Plain | 1,626 | 0.07 | 0 | |
| Croatian Christian Democratic Union | 1,575 | 0.06 | 0 | |
| Croatian Democratic Peasant Party | 1,553 | 0.06 | 0 | |
| Croatian Party of the Unemployed | 1,132 | 0.05 | 0 | |
| Croatian Christian Democratic Party | 1,104 | 0.04 | 0 | |
| Croatian European Party | 767 | 0.03 | 0 | |
| Croatian Assembly | 588 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Green Alternative–Consumer Party | 505 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Croatian Demochristians | 417 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| Homeland Civic Party | 390 | 0.02 | 0 | |
| My Little Međimurje | 346 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Rule of Law Alliance | 294 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Croatian Veterans' Party | 286 | 0.01 | 0 | |
| Independents | 30,106 | 1.21 | 0 | |
| National minorities | 8 | |||
| Total | 2,479,044 | 100.00 | 153 | |
| Valid votes | 2,479,044 | 98.54 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 36,627 | 1.46 | ||
| Total votes | 2,515,671 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 4,229,681 | 59.48 | ||
| Source: State Election Committee[13] | ||||

| District | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total voters | 361,236 | 399,648 | 366,005 | 335,091 | 372,163 | 356,575 | 403,812 | 385,594 | 426,199 | 416,017 | 404,950 | 4,227,290 |
| Votes cast | 243,980 | 254,571 | 249,111 | 211,839 | 216,335 | 224,986 | 264,795 | 240,250 | 259,018 | 264,193 | 90,482 | 2,519,560 |
| Valid votes | 243,480 | 254,269 | 249,041 | 211,426 | 215,937 | 224,554 | 264,232 | 239,987 | 258,593 | 263,372 | 90,402 | 2,515,293 |
| Turnout | 67.4% | 63.6% | 68.0% | 63.1% | 58.0% | 63.0% | 65.4% | 62.2% | 60.7% | 63.3% | 22.3% | 59.5% |
| Source:[citation needed] | ||||||||||||
| District | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDZ | 31.03% | 31.83% | 23.85% | 31.20% | 42.75% | 34.23% | 35.14% | 21.16% | 52.09% | 44.54% |
| SDP | 42.07% | 33.33% | 30.79% | 26.80% | 26.69% | 36.08% | 36.90% | 40.99% | 22.63% | 28.27% |
| HNS | 6.43% | 4.47% | 25.34% | 4.64% | 4.31% | 5.42% | 5.52% | 5.21% | 3.79% | 4.83% |
| HSS–HSLS | 4.38% | 16.53% | 9.95% | 4.04% | 5.54% | 8.27% | 6.49% | 2.93% | 3.29% | 5.71% |
| HSU | 4.87% | 4.29% | 3.53% | 4.89% | 3.71% | 4.44% | 4.53% | 5.85% | 3.38% | 3.03% |
| HSP | 2.40% | 2.93% | 1.67% | 7.98% | 5.19% | 3.44% | 3.25% | 1.81% | 3.43% | 3.49% |
| HDSSB | — | — | — | 15.23% | 6.00% | — | — | — | — | — |
| IDS | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 16.18% | — | — |
| Source:[citation needed] | ||||||||||
On night of the elections, after first seat projections were announced, the president of theCroatian Democratic Union announced that he spoke with thePresident of the Republic and that he will be forming the government.[14] A few minutes after him, the president of theSocial Democratic Party informed the public that he too spoke with president and that he too was commencing the formation of the government.[14]
PresidentMesić explained that his constitutional obligation was to give a mandate to form a government to a person who presents him with convincing proof that they have support of a majority of the newly elected parliament.[15] As the president failed to announce that he will give the mandate toIvo Sanader, leader of the party with the most seats in the parliament, he was criticised by many[16][17][18] for complicating the situation and starting a politicalcrisis. President Mesić responded that he was following article 97 of theConstitution of Croatia.[16]
HDZ, together withHSU[19] and Roma national minority member Nazif Memedi[20] had 68 of 77 seats required for a majority whileSDP,HNS,IDS[21] andSDA[22] together had 67 seats. Therefore, theHSS-HSLS coalition which had 8 seats was instrumental in forming a government.[23] Before the elections, leaders of the coalition stated that they will first speak with the party which wins the most seats (not countingdiaspora seats).[23] As this turned out to be HDZ, negotiations between HDZ and HSS-HSLS of a coalition started on 3 December.[24]
Although HSS-HSLS started negotiating with HDZ, the president of SDP Milanović refused to give up and still claimed that SDP was also in a process of forming of a government because SDP, HNS, IDS and SDA won 150 thousand votes more than HDZ (not counting diaspora).[25]HDSSB had declared support for SDP[26] if SDP-formed government will work "in the interest ofSlavonia andBaranja",[27] but Milanović stated that he firmly believed that SDP will form the government even without support from HDSSB. Although up until 25 NovemberLjubo Jurčić still claimed that he was SDP's candidate for premier,[28] on 30 November Milanović announced that he was assuming responsibility for forming SDP-led government. Jurčić confirmed that he thinks that "responsibility for functioning of the government should be distributed among heads of parties and that is the best concept in this circumstances".[29] Heads of HSS-HSLS coalitionAdlešič andFriščić declared this decision to be "very important and could influence their decision about who they will support". Adlešić added that Milanović is "much better premier candidate than Jurčić and that SDP would probably have better election results if Milanović made this decision earlier".[30]
On 12 December it was announced that coalition talks between HDZ and the HSS-HSLS were close to completion and the odds of HSS-HSLS entering into discussions with SDP were announced byBožidar Pankretić as very low.[31] Three days later, President Mesić held a second round of consultations with parliamentary parties and was reassured that HDZ and HSS-HSLS are finishing their negotiations. Mesić considered that a proof that Sanader had support of the majority of Sabor and handed him a mandate to form a government.[32] Following that announcement, Milanović again reiterated that SDP still hasn't given up on forming a government. Sanader described this behaviour as "not fitting the democratic standards" and that president would have much easier job if SDP just acknowledged their defeat.[32]
The first session of the newly elected parliament was called for 11 January 2008,[33] and on 12 January, the parliament approvedSanader's cabinet.[34]
| Government | Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) Minorities | Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||