Over two million BAM to be spent on presidential elections

The Croatian government at today's session called elections for the President of the Republic for Sunday, December 28, and all deadlines for electoral actions will commence on November 24, writes Index.hr, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

"The government is calling elections for the President of the Republic to be held on Sunday, December 28, and the electoral deadlines, i.e., the decision, will take effect on November 24," said Minister of Public Administration Arsen Bauk briefly.

The government also made a decision on the amount of compensation for election campaign costs for the presidential elections, which would amount to one million kuna for the candidate with the highest number of votes in the first round of elections.

"It is determined that the candidate who receives the highest number of votes will receive compensation for costs of one million kuna, and other candidates who received over 10 percent of the votes, proportionally to the number of votes received compared to the first candidate, will receive 20 percent of the compensation amount determined in the first round in the second round," Bauk reported.

A total of 8 million kuna (more than 2 million BAM) has been secured to cover election costs and the amount of compensation for election campaign costs.

All adult citizens of Croatia have the right to be elected, i.e., to run for President of the Republic. Candidates can be nominated by political parties registered in Croatia, one or more political parties together, as well as voters. Regardless of who nominates a presidential candidate, they must collect at least 10,000 voter signatures supporting their candidacy. Each voter can support only one candidate with their signature.

So far, current president Ivo Josipović, HDZ candidate Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, Milan Kujundžić on behalf of the Alliance for Croatia, as well as former HSP leader Anto Đapić and bankruptcy trustee Ivan Rude have announced their presidential candidacies.