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Regular elections in Croatia are mandated by the Constitution and legislation enacted by Parliament. The presidency, Parliament, county prefects and assemblies, city and town mayors, and city and municipal councils are all elective offices. Since 1990, seven presidential elections have been held. During the same period, ten parliamentary elections (with two for the upper house when the parliament was bicameral) were also held. In addition, there were nine nationwide local elections. Croatia has also held three elections to elect members of the European Parliament following its accession to the EU on 1 July 2013.
The President of Croatia is elected for a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens in a majority system, requiring runoff elections if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of votes in the first round. Members of Parliament are elected for a four-year term in ten multi-seat constituencies, with additional members elected in special constituencies reserved for the Croatian diaspora and national minorities. As of July 2020, legislation provides for the election of 151 members of the unicameral parliament (including three representatives of the Croatian diaspora and eight representatives of national minorities). Out of 31 political parties which won seats in Croatian parliamentary elections held since 1990, only six have won ten seats or more in any one parliamentary election. Those were the Croatian Democratic Union, the Croatian Peasant Party, the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, the Croatian Social Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party of Croatia, the Homeland Movement and The Bridge. The county prefects, city/town mayors and municipality presidents are elected for four-year term by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units, with a runoff election if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting. Members of county, city/town and municipal councils are elected for a four-year term through proportional representation, with the entire local government unit as a single constituency.
Any Croatian citizen over age 18 may be a candidate in presidential, parliamentary or local government elections, provided that a sufficient number of endorsements by Croatian voters is obtained beforehand. Croatian elections are relatively well-regulated; regulations include spending limits, annual donation limits, a limitation on the number of endorsed candidates and election lists and regulations governing media coverage. Voting takes place in polling stations in Croatia and abroad, monitored by an electoral board and observers at each station. Ballots consist of an alphabetical list of candidates, or an election list with ordinal numbers (which are circled to indicate a vote). All votes are counted by hand. The State Electoral Commission publishes official results and handles complaints, supported by county, city and town electoral commissions during local elections. Decisions of the electoral commissions may be appealed at the Constitutional Court of Croatia.
Parliamentary elections
thumb|left|[[Parliament of Croatia building|alt=Facade of a three-floor building]]
The Parliament of Croatia () consists of 151 members elected to four-year terms in twelve constituencies. Out of that number, 140 are elected in ten multi-seat territorial constituencies. These are defined on the basis of the existing county borders, with necessary amendments to achieve a uniform number of eligible voters in each constituency (plus or minus five percent). The eleventh constituency is for citizens of Croatia living abroad; the number of seats held by this constituency was fixed at three for the parliamentary election held in December 2011. The 2010 constitutional amendments abolished the former scheme, in which the number of MPs elected from the eleventh constituency was proportional to the ratio to the number of ballots cast in the other ten constituencies. In the 2007 general election, this method led to the eleventh constituency electing five MPs.
The standard d'Hondt formula is applied to the vote (except for the twelfth constituency in which national minority representatives are elected), with a five-percent election threshold in each constituency. Since 2015, the parliamentary elections have an element of preferential voting by letting voters choose not only for a list of candidates, but also a single member of the same list. If the percentage of votes for a candidate exceeds 10%, they are elected as if it was an open list system. The list ranking is maintained for those candidates that do not meet this quota.
thumb|right|Map of the Croatian electoral districts in use from 2023
An additional eight members of the parliament are elected from the twelfth constituency. It encompasses the entire country; candidates in this constituency are elected by voters belonging to 22 recognized minorities in Croatia: the Serb minority elects three MPs, the Hungarians and Italians elect one MP each, the Czech and Slovak minorities jointly elect one MP, and all other minorities elect the final two MPs. Minority MPs are elected by simple plurality system (candidates with the most votes are elected). The nationality of the voters is listed in the voter registry, which is provided by the registrar's office that maintains Croatia's vital records. Voter nationalities are normally officially declared by the parents at birth, but any citizen may declare or change that information later on at the registrar's office at least 14 days ahead of elections (not at the polling station). The voter's nationality need not be declared or may be declared as unknown. During elections, voters who have officially declared they belong to one of the recognized minorities in Croatia may choose to vote for either a territorially applicable list or a corresponding national minority list; a voter of unknown or non-declared nationality may vote for either a territorially applicable list or any minority list; a voter who has declared a nationality other than Croat or a recognized minority may vote only for a territorially applicable list (the same as someone who has declared themselves a Croat). Minority voting and minority representation rules have raised controversy and were eventually upheld by the Constitutional Court.
An election silence is enforced on the day before and the day of the elections, ending at 7:00 pm when the polling stations close and the exit polls are published.
Although political parties fund their campaigns using donations or their own assets, the government reimburses them for each parliamentary seat won. For instance, each seat won in the 2011 parliamentary election brought a party 180,000 kuna ( euros). Smaller sums were paid to parties or candidates failing to win any parliamentary seats, provided that they received more than five percent of the votes cast in a constituency.
2024 parliamentary election
Next parliamentary election
See article: Next Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections are to be held no later than 60 days after the expiration of the 4-year parliamentary term, counting from the day that parliament is constituted with the election of a Speaker or no later than 60 days after the dissolution of parliament by vote of MPs. The 11th Assembly of Parliament was constituted on 16 May 2024.
Previous parliamentary elections
thumb|right|400px|Croatian parliamentary election results, 1992–2020; parties winning 10 or more seats in any one election shown individually|alt=Graph of Croatian election results, using differently-colored lines
Since 1990, fourteen parliamentary elections have been held in Croatia. These have included the 1990 elections for a tricameral parliament, three elections of the Chamber of Deputies during the bicameral parliament's existence, seven elections of the unicameral Parliament and two elections of the Chamber of Counties—the upper house of the bicameral parliament.
The elections held in 1990 were the first multi-party elections after 45 years of Communist rule; candidates vied for all 80 seats in the Social-Political Council of Croatia, all 116 seats in the Municipalities Council of Croatia and all 160 seats in the Associated Labour Council of Croatia (since Parliament had three chambers at the time). The first round of the election saw a turnout of 85.5 percent, and the runoff-election turnout was 74.8 percent. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 205 seats, and the League of Communist of Croatia won 107.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Parliamentary elections overview since 1990<br /><small>(Tricameral parliament (1990), Chamber of Representatives (Lower house 1990–2001), unicameral parliament (2001–present))</small>
|-
! Election || Turnout || Results || Cabinet(s)
|-align=left
| 1990 || * || 1st assembly|| Cabinet of Stjepan Mesić, Cabinet of Josip Manolić, Cabinet of Franjo Gregurić
|-align=left
| 1992 || 75.6% || 2nd assembly|| Cabinet of Hrvoje Šarinić, Cabinet of Nikica Valentić
|-align=left
| 1995 || 68.8% || 3rd assembly|| Cabinet of Zlatko Mateša
|-align=left
| 2000 || 70.5% || 4th assembly || Cabinet of Ivica Račan I, Cabinet of Ivica Račan II
|-align=left
| 2003 || 61.7% || 5th assembly|| Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I
|-align=left
| 2007 || 59.5% || 6th assembly|| Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, Cabinet of Jadranka Kosor
|-align=left
| 2011 || 54.3% || 7th assembly|| Cabinet of Zoran Milanović
|-align=left
| 2015 || 60.8% || 8th assembly|| Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković
|-align=left
| 2016 || 52.6% || 9th assembly|| Cabinet of Andrej Plenković I
|-align=left
| 2020 || 46.4% || 10th assembly|| Cabinet of Andrej Plenković II
|-
|2024
|62.3%
|11th assembly
|Cabinet of Andrej Plenković III
|-
! colspan=4|Source: State Election Commission The Chamber of Deputies was abolished by a constitutional amendment in 2001.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Seats won in parliamentary elections by individual parties<br/>Chamber of Counties elections 1993–1997
|-
! Party || 1993|| 1997
|-align=center
| align=left|Croatian Democratic Union || 39 || 42
|-align=center
| align=left|Croatian Party of Rights || – || 2
|-align=center
| align=left|Croatian Peasant Party || 5 || 9
|-align=center
| align=left|Croatian People's Party || 1 || –
|-align=center
| align=left|Croatian Social Liberal Party || 16 || 7
|-align=center
| align=left|Istrian Democratic Assembly || 3 || 2
|-align=center
| align=left|Social Democratic Party of Croatia || 1 || 4
|-align=center
| align=left|Independent || 3 || 2
|-
! colspan=7|Source: State Election Commission) is elected to a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens, with a majority vote required to win. A runoff election is held if no candidate secures a majority in the first round. The presidential elections are regulated by the constitution and dedicated legislation; however, the latter only defines technical details, appeals and similar issues. Any citizen of Croatia, 18 or older, may be a candidate in a presidential election if the candidate is endorsed by 10,000 voters. The endorsements are required in the form of a list containing name, address, personal identification number and voter signature. The presidential elections are regulated by an act of parliament. Election silence is in force on the day of the elections and the previous day, ending at 7 in the evening as polling stations close; exit polls may be published after that time.
Unless the presidential term is cut short by death, resignation or removal from office, resulting in an early election, the elections for President of the Republic are scheduled to take place every 5 years, with the incumbent having a possibility of re-election. The president is currently term limited to two 5-year terms.