Ivo Josipović is the third Croatian president. He received 60.29% of the votes, while his opponent Milan Bandić received 39.71% of the voters. By 11:30 PM, 99.62% of polling stations had been processed. These are the official data from the State Electoral Commission.
The SEC has denied reports from some media that they received data indicating that Ivo Josipović won 61.2 percent, while Milan Bandić received 38.8 percent of the votes. The president of the State Electoral Commission (SEC), Branko Hrvatin, stated that these are mere calculations based on exit polls with corrections from information gathered from some polling stations abroad, primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These are not our results, and the published figures do not even match numerically, said the SEC president.
In Ivo Josipović’s headquarters, celebrations are already in full swing, although they emphasize that they will wait until midnight with champagne for the official results from the SEC. Although they are skeptical about the exit polls, they hope that these will remain until the end. The director of Ivo Josipović’s election headquarters, Mirando Mrsić, did not hide his satisfaction. When we talk about exit polls, they show a certain trend. They will change throughout the evening, but we believe that our candidate will win the elections, Mrsić emphasized.
Josipović: This is a victory for all honest people
Ivo Josipović, after the announcement of the election results, accompanied by thunderous chanting, took to the stage of the Journalists’ House, where his headquarters is located, and confidently stated that we all want a better and fairer Croatia and announced: – This is a victory for all honest people, not just those who voted for me. Emphasizing that everyone wants to live in a country of social security and justice, he also addressed those who did not vote for him, as he wants to be the president of all citizens of Croatia and does not want to divide, but to unite. Thanking everyone, both those who supported and helped him, as well as those who were his fierce opponents, he said that today we had the opportunity, precisely because of that, to witness a festival of democracy. (www.vecernji.hr)
Croatia has chosen a new, modern state where order, work, and honesty prevail. This was a kind of referendum deciding between pro-European and the other Croatia, which we would rather not remember, Mrsić stated. Nenad Stazić, a member of the election headquarters, is very satisfied. According to the exit polls, our candidate leads with 64.6%, while Bandić has only 35.4%. We can already say with certainty that Croatia has today received its first president, and that is Ivo Josipović, Stazić emphasized. The negative campaign turned against Bandić. Croatian citizens have chosen a European president and can be proud of that, he added.
The Secretary General of the SDP, Igor Dragovan, thanked all voters who turned out for the elections, especially those who voted for the SDP candidate. The significant difference in the results of the two candidates, which arises from the exit polls, is not unexpected for Dragovan. We knew that the difference would be large because we worked hard, and many people supported us, said Dragovan, who expects that the official election results after midnight will confirm the exit polls. (www.hrt.hr)
