2024 European Parliament election in Croatia

2024 European Parliament election in Croatia

← 2019 9 June 2024 2029 →
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12 Croatian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	21.35% ( 8.50 pp)
First party Second party   Candidate Andrej Plenković Biljana Borzan Party HDZ Rivers of Justice Alliance EPP S&D Renew Last election 27.1%, 4 seats[a] 22.1%, 4 seats[b] Seats won 6 4 Seat change 2 Popular vote 264,415 192,859 Percentage 35.13% 25.62%   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Ivan Penava Gordan Bosanac Party DP Možemo! Alliance ECR Greens–EFA Last election Did not exist 1.8%, 0 seats[c] Seats won 1 1 Seat change New 1 Popular vote 66,541 44,670 Percentage 8.84% 5.93%
Results by counties and historical regions

The 2024 European Parliament elections in Croatia were held on 9 June 2024 as part of the 2024 European Parliament election.^[1] This was the fourth parliamentary election since Croatia's EU accession in 2013, and the first to take place after Brexit.

It is the second election in 2024, the "superelection year" for Croatia, following the April parliamentary election and preceding the presidential election. Concurrently with this election, four local elections are being held on the same day, including the mayoral election in Gospić.^[2]

Since the previous 2019 election, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was re-elected in both 2020 and 2024 parliamentary elections. After the latter, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), who had fallen short of an absolute majority, formed a coalition government with the right-wing Homeland Movement.^[3][4]

Compared to last election, Croatia is entitled to one more MEP in this election, already assigned since 2020 in the occasion of the redistribution post Brexit. The 12 members are elected through semi-open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with seats allocated through D'Hondt method. The electoral threshold is set at 5%, but due to the seat allocation procedure, at least one seat is only guaranteed from a vote share of at least 8.33%.^[5]

All people who have Croatian citizenship and a main residence in Croatian, Croatian citizens without residence in Croatia and other Union citizens whose main residence is in Croatia are entitled to vote in the European elections in Croatia. In addition, those eligible to vote must turn 18 years old by election day at the latest. Voter registration is required only for non-Croatian EU citizen residing in Croatia, while Croatian citizen are automatically registered in their place of residence.^[6]

The table shows the detailed composition of the Croatian seats at the European Parliament as of 23 January 2024. All outgoing MEPs are running for re-election.^[7]

EP Group		Seats	Party		Seats	MEPs
	European People's Party	4 / 12		Croatian Democratic Union	4	Sunčana Glavak Karlo Ressler Tomislav Sokol Željana Zovko
	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats	4 / 12		Social Democratic Party of Croatia	4	Biljana Borzan Romana Jerković Predrag Matić Tonino Picula
	Non-Inscrits	2 / 12		Law and Justice	2	Ivan Vilibor Sinčić Mislav Kolakušić
	Renew Europe	1 / 12		Istrian Democratic Assembly	1	Valter Flego
	European Conservatives and Reformists	1 / 12		Croatian Sovereignists	1	Ladislav Ilčić
Total					12
Source: European Parliament

Parties could submit their nomination applications for participation to the State Electoral Commission (DIP) from 10 to 23 April.^[8] On 23 April, the DIP released a list of all submitted candidacies, with the list of all valid candidacies being released on 24 April.^[9][10]

This is a list of the main parties who participated in the election.

Party			Leading candidate	Main ideology	European party	EP Group	2019 result		Outgoing MEPs
							Votes (%)	Seats
	HDZ	Croatian Democratic Union	Andrej Plenković	Christian democracy	EPP	EPP	22.7%	4 / 12	4 / 12
	SDP+	Rivers of Justice List Social Democratic Party (SDP) Centre (CENTAR) Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) Civic Liberal Alliance (GLAS) Dalija Orešković and People with a First and Last Name (DO i SIP)	Biljana Borzan	Social democracy	PES ALDE	S&D Renew	22.1%	4 / 12	4 / 12
	PiP	Law and Justice	Mislav Kolakušić	Populism	None	NI	Did not contest[d]		2 / 14
	Most	The Bridge List Croatian Sovereignists (HS) Croatian Party of Rights (HSP)	Božo Petrov	Social conservativism	ECR Party	ECR	17.6%[e]	1 / 12	0 / 12
	IDS+	Fair Play List 9 List Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) Independent Platform of the North (NPS) Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) Croatian People's Party (HNS) Reformists (NS-R) Social Democrats (SD) Democrats (D) Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar (PGS) List for Rijeka (RI)	Valter Flego	Liberalism Regionalism	ALDE EDP	Renew	11.9%[f]	1 / 12	1 / 12
	M!	We can!	Gordan Bosanac	Green politics	EGP	Greens-EFA	1.8%	0 / 12	0 / 12
	DP	Homeland Movement	Ivan Penava	National conservativism	None	None	Did not contest		0 / 12
	NLLI	Independent list of Ladislav Ilčić	Ladislav Ilčić	Christian right	None	ECR	Did not contest		1 / 12

This table lists all other, minor lists participating in the election.

Party		European Party	Group	2019 result	Lead candidate	Note
	Authentic Croatian Party of Rights	None	None	0.41%	Dražen Keleminec [hr]
	Workers' Front	PEL	LEFT	0.24%	Katarina Peović	with SRP in 2019
	Movement for a Modern Croatia	None	None	0.24%	Damir Gašparović
	Party of Ivan Pernar	None	None	–	Ivan Pernar
	Croatian Party of Pensioners	None	None	–	Ema Culi	part of Amsterdam Coalition in 2019
	Green Alternative – ORaH	EGP	Greens-EFA	–	Zorislav Antun Petrović [hr]	part of Green–Left Coalition in 2019
	Republic	None	None	–	Luka Kraljević
	Determination and Justice [hr]	None	None	–	Karolina Vidović Krišto [hr]
	UZ–SU–BUZ [hr]–DSU	None	None	–	Milivoj Špika [hr]
	Independent list of Nina Skočak	None	None	–	Nina Skočak	called "The Gen Z List"
	Dalmatian Action	None	None	–	Nino Aviani [hr]
	Righteous Croatia	None	None	–	Tihomir Majić
	Ričard Independent	None	None	–	Enio Meštrović
	Public Good	None	None	–	Vladimira Mascarell
	Agrarian Party	None	None	–	Robert Hadžić
	Movement for Animals	None	None	–	Marcel Maglica
	Croatian Civil Resistance Party	None	None	–	Josip Babok

4: DP	5: HDZ	9: Fair Play List 9	11: Most - HS - HSP	12: Možemo!	17: PiP	18: RF	22: Rivers of Justice
Candidates Ivan Penava Stephen Nikola Bartulica Slobodan Novak Branka Lozo Jesenka Ricl Davor Dretar Ivana Mujkić Dubravka Lipovac Pehar Josip Jurčević Ivica Kukavica Anamarija Frankić Stipo Mlinarić	Candidates Andrej Plenković Dubravka Šuica Davor Ivo Stier Karlo Ressler Nikolina Brnjac Željana Zovko Sunčana Glavak Tomislav Sokol Marko Pavić [hr] Ante Mihanović Danijel Marušić Marijana Petir	Candidates Valter Flego Matija Posavec Spomenka Đurić Domagoj Hajduković Gabriela Bošnjak Ana Trošelj Rajko Ostojić Tatjana Vukobratović Spasojević Anita Perešin Krunoslav Lukačić Radimir Čačić Milorad Pupovac	Candidates Božo Petrov Zvonimir Troskot [hr] Dominik Klemenčić Željko Glasnović Nikola Grmoja Petra Mandić Kristina Jerčić Ivan Vidović Kristina Bakula Anamarija Jurković Željka Ilijaš Baričević Marin Miletić [hr]	Candidates Gordan Bosanac Jelena Miloš Vedran Horvat Rada Borić Urša Raukar-Gamulin Marta Kiš Jagoda Munić Dušica Radojčić Damir Bakić Borna Lozo Nebojša Zelič Ivana Kekin	Candidates Mislav Kolakušić Ivan Vilibor Sinčić Ivan Lovrinović [hr] Nada Tušak Isidora Rajković Ines Taradi Ivana Kolovrat Tatjana Vučić Nensi Krupić Ivana Stampf Damir Trnačić Tihomir Lukanić	Candidates Katarina Peović Denis Geto Sandra Crnković Hrvoje Štefan Dubravka Kovačević Anton Glasnović Karin Grgorović Izvor Rukavina Josipa Vlasac Glasnović Boris Mijakovac Dora Zvjerković Dragan Nemet	Candidates Biljana Borzan Predrag Matić Romana Jerković Marko Vešligaj Dalija Orešković Bojan Glavašević [hr] Sonja Kovač Joško Klisović Vedrana Mišković Ranko Ostojić Željka Šarčević Grgić Tonino Picula

The Prime Minister of Croatia, the president of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and former MEP (2013–2016) Andrej Plenković will lead the list of HDZ. Together with the rumours about his potential EP candidacy,^[11] which were confirmed by Plenković to reporters on 22 April,^[12] rumours have been circulating about Plenković as the possible next President of the European Commission, started by Bild^[13] and continued by Politico.^{[14][15][16][17]}

On 10 May, HDZ and European People's Party organized a joint rally in Split. The spitzenkandidat of EPP and incumbent President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Andrej Plenković pointed out their successes with von der Leyen saying she's impressed with the progress Croatia is making. The president of HDZ BiH Dragan Čović thanked Plenković for his support of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[18]

The Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) approved its 2024 European Parliament list on 25 March, together with Rivers of Justice coalition lists for the 2024 Croatian parliamentary election. Incumbent MEP Biljana Borzan is leading the list that, in addition to SDP members, includes coalition partners Dalija Orešković (DO i SIP) and Bojan Glavašević [hr] (Ind.).^[19][20]

The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) MEP Valter Flego announced that a centrist bloc was formed to contest the election, consisting of: IDS, SDSS, HSLS, HNS, NS-R, SD, PGS, RI, Independent Platform of the North (NPS) and independent candidates.^[21] On 22 May, Flego presented the coalition named Fair Play List 9.^[22] Flego was endorsed by Alexander De Croo, the Prime Minister of Belgium from the Flemish Open Vld.^[23]

The Bridge (Most) presented its joint list with Croatian Sovereignists (HS) and far-right Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) for the election on 23 April, with Most leader Božo Petrov as the top candidate. The parties are running on a social conservative and christian right platform, putting forward their initiative Vratimo EU kršćanskim korijenima (English: "Let's return the EU to its Christian roots").^[24][25]

The list was originally supposed to be headed by Member of Parliament Marija Selak Raspudić. On 24 April, Selak Raspudić announced her and her husband's, MP Nino Raspudić's departure from Most. The two MPs and intellectuals, described by political commentators as the most educated and open-minded people in Most, were perceived as the most popular figures of the party that brought new life to Most after joining in 2020, attracting urban voters.^[26][27] Selak Raspudić, who describes herself as closest to centrist positions^[28] and was formally independent, cites a clash with the party Vice president Marin Miletić on abortion issue as one of the reason for the couple's decision. Miletić, an ultraconservative, publicly distanced from his colleague Selak Raspudić after in an N1 debate, ahead of the April parliamentary election, she said that abortion is the right of a woman.^[29] Selak Raspudić said that the coalition with HSP was not at the table at the time when she was still supposed to be a candidate.^[30]

The We Can! (Možemo!) is running with party spokesperson and human rights activist Gordan Bosanac as their slate leader.^[31] The list emphasizes their fight to continue with the green transition and defence of anti-fascist Europe in the event of continued surge of far-right parties in the EU. On 29 May, the spitzenkandidat of European Greens, Bas Eickhout was present on a press conference in Zagreb to support the party.^[32][33]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2024)

Incumbent MEP Ladislav Ilčić became a Member of the European Parliament for Croatian Sovereignists (HS) on 1 July 2021, replacing Ruža Tomašić, who had resigned. Ilčić submitted his list running as an independent candidate.^[34] He previously voiced his opposition to HS running in the 2024 parliamentary election in a coalition with The Bridge.^[35]

Social media influencer Nina Skočak is running in the election with her own independent list, dubbed by her^[36] and the media^[37] as "The Gen Z List". A politologist and journalist by profession, working for the European Commission in Brussels, she has over 200 thousand followers on TikTok. The list, that consists of candidates which are all not older than 30 years old, highlights the lack of representation for young people in politics. Skočak often covers political topics with her social media content, such as sustainable fashion and women's rights.^[38][39][40]

European Green Deal is one of the main issues in the campaign, together with the initiative's impact and European policies on agriculture. WWF Adria, environmental organization BIOM and Nova TV all requested for candidates or parties to give statements on the topic. According to BIOM and WWF, parties HDZ, SDP, Možemo!, ORaH, DP and RF all responded with support for the Deal, with some stating reservations on the deadlines. RF emphasized that there is no green transition without changing the capitalist way of production and distribution of goods.^[41][42] For Nova TV, Tomislav Sokol (HDZ) criticized "unnecessary administrative and environmental burdens" pushed by the "extreme green left", while Božo Petrov (Most) announced they will confront "harmful green policies that brought farmers to the brink of bankruptcy or bankruptcy, and increased food prices".^[43]

On 23 May, Možemo! asked the government to recognize Palestine as an independent state, call for ceasefire and stop with the "inhuman passivity" when it comes to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The party announced a motion in Parliament that will also include sending humanitarian help to Palestinians.^[44] Governments of Norway, Spain and Ireland announced their coordinated recognition the day before. When asked about it by the press, Andrej Plenković said the government is not considering recognising Palestine for the time being.^[45] Croatia was one of the 25 countries abstaining in the vote on United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-10/23.

Party/alliance			Original slogan	English translation	Ref.
	HDZ		„Hrvatska, snažna i važna“	"Croatia, strong and important"	[46][47]
	Rivers of Justice		„Radimo za hrvatske ljude!“	"We work for the Croatian people!"	[48]
	Možemo!		„Borbeno. Dosljedno. Zajedno!“	"Fiercely. Consistently. Together!"	[49][50]
	Most–HS–HSP		„Osloni se na naše“	"Rely on ours"	[49][51]
	DP		„Suverena Hrvatska u Europi“	"Sovereign Croatia in Europe"	[49]
	Fair Play List 9		„U našem timu igraju samo najbolji.”	"Only the best are playing in our team."	[52][53]
		IDS	„Naša forca u Briselu!“	"Our force in Bruxelles!"	[54]
			Italian: „Con Flego in Europa“	"With Flego in Europe"

2024 European Parliament election debates in Croatia

Date	Organizers	P  Present    A  Absent invitee   I  Invitee   N  Non-invitee
		HDZ	SDP	DP	Most	Možemo	IDS	PiP	Refs
17 May	Večernji list	P Karlo Ressler	P Predrag Fred Matić	P Stephen Nikola Bartulica	P Božo Petrov	P Gordan Bosanac	NI	NI	[55]
21 May	Nova TV	P Karlo Ressler	P Predrag Fred Matić	P Stephen Nikola Bartulica	P Petra Mandić	P Gordan Bosanac	NI	NI	[56]
2 Jun	N1	P Tomislav Sokol	P Marko Vešligaj	P Branka Lozo	P Božo Petrov	P Gordan Bosanac	NI	NI	[57]
4 June	Nova TV	P Davor Ivo Stier	P Biljana Borzan	P Davor Dretar	P Božo Petrov	P Gordan Bosanac	NI	NI	[58]

GONG created and published an easily searchable database of preliminary financial reports delivered by political parties to the DIP. It contains data about donations and funding spent in the campaign by 2 June, including media advertising. According to the reports, the HDZ had spent the most, €221,650 of the maximum possible amount of €530,891 on election advertising. Ladislav Ilčić received the most donations overall, as well as the two highest individual donations.^[59]

Cost of the elections was estimated on 9.245 milion euros.^[60]

Publication date	Polling firm	Sample size	HDZ EPP	SDP S&D	Most ECR	PiP NI	IDS RE	DP ID	M! G/EFA	Others	Undecided	Lead
6 Jun 2024	Ipsos	1001	31.9 5	24.6 4	6.1 1	-	3.7 0	5.8 1	6.5 1	-[g]	7.7	7.3
5 Jun 2024	Promocija plus	1300	28.4 5	20.5 4	5.7 1	3.9 0	3.2 0	6.9 1	7.4 1	11.7[h] 0	12.3	7.9
2 Jun 2024	2x1 komunikacije	1041	31.2 5	22.0 3	7.1 1	3.7 0	3.8 0	8.7 1	11.1 2	-	11.0	9.2
25 May 2024	Ipsos	990	28.5 5	17.8 3	5.4 1	1.8 0	3.8 0	7.4 1	9.9 2	12.2[i] 0	14.9	10.7
4 May 2024	Promocija plus	1000	30.6 5	24.2 4	5.4 1	2.5 0	2.3 0	6.7 1	7.5 1	-	-	6.4
17 Apr 2024	2024 parliamentary election	–	34.4	25.4	8.0	[j]	2.3	9.6	9.1	11.2	-	9.0
26 May 2019	2019 European election	–	27.1 4	22.1 4	17.6 1	13.6 2	11.9 1	–	1.8 0	5.8	-	5.0

Turnout	Time
	11:30			16:30			19:00
	2019	2024	±	2019	2024	±	2019	2024	±
Total	9.93%	7.69%	2.24 pp	21.31%	15.05%	6.26 pp	29.85%	21.35%	8.50 pp
Sources: State Electoral Commission

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Croatian Democratic Union	264,415	35.13	6	+2
	Rivers of Justice	192,859	25.62	4	0
	Homeland Movement	66,541	8.84	1	New
	We can!	44,670	5.93	1	+1
	Fair Play List 9	41,710	5.54	0	-1
	Independent list of Nina Skočak	30,369	4.03	0	New
	The Bridge–HS–HSP	30,155	4.01	0	-1
	Law and Justice	22,425	2.98	0	-2
	Determination and Justice [hr]	10,328	1.37	0	New
	Independent list of Ladislav Ilčić	9,156	1.22	0	New
	Ričard Independent	8,757	1.16	0	New
	Croatian Party of Pensioners	5,235	0.70	0	New
	Workers' Front	4,729	0.63	0	0
	Pensioners Together	4,298	0.57	0	New
	Movement for Animals	3,060	0.41	0	New
	Agrarian Party	2,840	0.38	0	New
	Party of Ivan Pernar	2,280	0.30	0	New
	Green Alternative – ORaH	1,636	0.22	0	0
	Autochthonous Croatian Party of Rights	1,402	0.19	0	0
	Republic	1,099	0.15	0	New
	Movement for a Modern Croatia	1,005	0.13	0	0
	Croatian Civil Resistance Party	986	0.13	0	New
	Dalmatian Action	973	0.13	0	New
	Righteous Croatia	963	0.13	0	New
	Public Good	770	0.10	0	New
Total		752,661	100.00	12	0
Valid votes		752,661	98.50
Invalid/blank votes		11,428	1.50
Total votes		764,089	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,731,860	20.47
Source: Results

Popular vote (party) HDZ   35.13% SDP   25.62% DP   8.84% Možemo!   5.93% Fiair Play   5.54% Gen Z   4.03% Most   4.01% PiP   2.99% OiP [hr]   1.37% NLLI   1.22% Others   4.32%

Candidate		Party		Group		Preference votes	Share of preference votes on candidate's list	Previous term	Note
	Andrej Plenković		HDZ		EPP	101,820	39.72%	1 July 2013 – 12 October 2016	Refused to take the seat, replaced by Sunčana Glavak
	Biljana Borzan		SDP		S&D	83,656	43.49%	1 July 2013 –
	Stephen Nikola Bartulica		DP		ECR	35,303	53.99%	None
	Tonino Picula		SDP		S&D	30,099	15.65%	1 July 2013 –
	Davor Ivo Stier		HDZ		EPP	25,424	9.91%	19 October 2016 – 19 June 2017
	Predrag Matić		SDP		S&D	17,239	8.96%	2 July 2019 –	Died on 23 August 2024
	Ivana Kekin		M!		Greens/EFA	11,307	25.76%	None	Refused to take the seat, replaced by Gordan Bosanac
	Dubravka Šuica		HDZ		EPP	8,864	3.45%	1 July 2013 – 30 November 2019	Refused to take the seat, replaced by Tomislav Sokol
	Nikolina Brnjac		HDZ		EPP	7,734	3.01%	None
	Željana Zovko		HDZ/HDZ BiH		EPP	6,707	2.61%	21 November 2016 –
	Karlo Ressler		HDZ		EPP	6,273	2.44%	2 July 2019 –
	Romana Jerković		SDP		S&D	1,005	0.52%	1 February 2020 –

• Croatia (European Parliament constituency)
• 2024 Croatian parliamentary election