[ELECTION 2005] Second Round Confirmed

State Electoral Commission that, based on returns from 99.06 % polling stations gathered at 23:30 CET, Croatian voters failed to elect their president in the first round.

Based on this data, the key word was turnout. Only 50.95 % registered voters bothered to vote. This favours HDZ with its disciplined army of voters - although many of them apparently defected to Boris Mikšić (Boris Miksic).

The results are – Mesić (Mesic) 49.03 % and Kosor 20.18 %.

With one upset to their credit, Sanader and HDZ will have at least some reasons to expect another in two weeks. Mesić will have reasons to view his failure in the first round as an embarrassing defeat, while Kosor will have momentum on her side.

The main thing for Kosor is to win at least some of Mikšić voters, while Mesić will need to keep majority of his, now obviously discouraged and disappointed, supporters in line.