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 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.
