The result was a victory for incumbent president Franjo Tuđman, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ), who received 61.40% of the vote and was re-elected to a second five-year term.
[2] The elections also featured the smallest number of presidential candidates to date, with only three taking part: Franjo Tuđman, Zdravko Tomac and Vlado Gotovac.
[4] The aftermath of Zagreb crisis and the protests against silencing Radio 101, an independent and critical media outlet, additionally led to a drop of government approval.
According to journalist Vlado Vurusic, SDP's Tomac chose to run knowing he stood little chance in order to legitimize the elections and build further visibility for the opposition.
In a state-funded campaign, charity concert "All Croatian Victories for Vukovar" was promoted throughout the country with billboards and posters depicting the president.
According to the OSCE, "as many as 300,000 lifelong (primarily ethnic Serb) residents who fled the country" during the 1991-5 war were disenfranchised, facing severe political, legal and administrative hurdles preventing them from voting.
[14] HDZ campaign committee published an election manifesto in all daily newspapers including a list of 800 public personas and celebrities officially supporting Tudman's re-election bid.
Peaceful local elections took place throughout the region in April and gradual reintegration in Croatia was going according to plan and scheduled to be completed in 1998.
Now, however, Tudjman visited Vukovar in a 21-car railway composition dubbed "The Peace Train", bringing many politicians, dignitaries and celebrities with him and stopping for whistle-stop rallies on his way from Zagreb.
"[16] Holding a conciliatory speech in Vukovar, Tudman fostered responsibility, cooperation and reconciliation between Croats and ethnic Serbs.
[17] All of these events were given significant coverage by state-owned media, which virtually avoided any display of (or news on) other candidates and opposition's activities, campaign, etc.
[18] With unemployment running at 17%, Tomac and Gotovac campaigned against nepotism, corruption, and economic inequality, also attacking Tudman's authoritarianism and politicization of army, police, and public broadcaster.
While Tomac promoted social justice, addressing people depending on wages not capital income, and spoke about labour-capital conflict, Gotovac was more focused on civil liberties.
[16] On 5 June opposition candidate Vlado Gotovac (HSLS) was physically attacked during his rally in Pula by Croatian Army captain Tomislav Brzović of the elite 1st Guards Corps, who wore dress uniform.
He chose the inauguration date to coincide with the anniversary of the military operation "Storm" that ended the war in Croatia two years earlier.
SDP's result as runners-up, prevailing over HSLS, was important in establishing them as a leading opposition party and a senior partner in building the coalition (August 1998) that eventually won the 2000 parliamentary elections and formed the first post-HDZ government.
[34]: 195 In 1998, HDZ could not form a majority in two counties (Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Dubrovnik-Neretva) and was forced to call the elections, which were won by the united opposition.
His 17% vote share as a candidate of several largest opposition parties in Sabor showed their loss of credibility as an alternative.
[34]: 198 According to political scientist Trevor Waters, after the elections "support for Tudjman and the HDZ fell sharply amid widespread allegations of corruption, cronyism and nepotism, particularly with regard to the privatisation of state-owned assets."