In the run-off, Josipović won a landslide victory, receiving 60.3% of the vote becoming the first elected president nominated by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP).

The election polls accurately predicted the winner, while the runner-up projections were usually within a statistical margin of error, lifting many candidates' hopes and enabling a sense of drama stirred by the Croatian media.

However, a sudden reappearance of Sanader interrupted the election campaign and cemented Josipović's advantage; in the end, he won by a large margin, and was inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of Croatia on 18 February.

However, Ivo Sanader unexpectedly decided not only to not run for the presidency, but to resign as prime minister and retire from active politics altogether, announcing his decision on 1 July 2009.

Immediately after the 2009 local elections and Milan Bandić's landslide victory in Zagreb as a candidate of the Social Democrats, there was much talk of his potential candidacy for president.

Before the election, many influential members of SDP urged Zoran Milanović, the president of the party, to intervene and nominate someone other than Bandić, referring to numerous corruption and malversation allegations made against him during his tenure as the mayor of Zagreb.

[14] Although Milanović dismissed these charges, SDP conspicuously put Bandić at the bottom of the electoral list for the city council, which prompted further accusations of hypocrisy from their opponents.

[16] On 12 July a primary election was held between the two social democrats and Ivo Josipović won with 64.78% of the vote from around ten thousand party members.

[21] Despite that, he declared on Croatian national television HRT that he still finds himself as true Social Democrat and that he'll proudly keep his SDP membership card nr.

[51] He claimed opinion polls have never been kind to his party as most conservative voters refuse to participate in them and expressed conviction that come Election Day he will be the victor.

He attacked the current Croatian government and the prime minister Jadranka Kosor for ignoring the needs of the little man and criticized her for not dealing with corruption.

He argued that he offered Primorac and Vidošević an opportunity to settle the question of who will be their party's nominee for president through a primary challenge stating that they both refused.

[62] Vidošević responded by saying he does not need someone who hits women teaching him moral lessons referring to allegations made to Primorac long ago which claimed he beat his former partner.

[68] Most commentators noticed she made the biggest change of image during the campaign out of all candidates claiming she lost her strict appearance of a professor becoming more accessible and open about her personal life.

Croatian Radiotelevision, as the public television operator, is legally obliged to give each candidate equal airtime, and they all got a half-hour interview in the late prime-time political show "Otvoreno".

Five candidates that were ahead in the polls were present, Ivo Josipović, Nadan Vidošević, Andrija Hebrang, Dragan Primorac and Vesna Pusić.

[72] However, the six candidates behind in the polls objected saying they were discriminated by Nova TV, particularly Josip Jurčević who threatened to sue the television station and filed a complaint against it to the country's electoral commission.

[78] Finally, Nova TV canceled the scheduled debate and called for the change of Croatia's laws concerning media coverage of presidential campaigns.

[137] Milan Bandić heavily used religion as an issue in the campaign, calculating that Josipović's agnosticism would be a turn-off for a largely Catholic country as Croatia.

He constantly repeated the only one he fears is God and that he was raised as a true believer and a humble Christian, also making claims that he has the support of the Catholic Church.

[139] However, the Bandić campaign used all tactics to force the issue, even distributing fliers in front of churches after the Sunday mass across the country urging believers to choose between the cross and a red star, referencing communism.

The main topics were the return of former prime minister Ivo Sanader to the political scene, the economy, taxes and foreign relations, especially with Slovenia.

Dragan Primorac made several public statements - he initially tried to stay completely neutral,[118] but later released one where he listed some characteristics of the future president that he would want, without naming a candidate, but focusing on the fight against corruption.

After the official results were published, he gave a victory speech shortly after midnight thanking his colleagues and especially his voters for their support and expressed conviction he would be the victor once again two weeks later.

[232] Andrija Hebrang accused his party's dissidents, Vidošević and Primorac, as well as most right-wing candidates for 'stealing' his votes saying the result was that two left-wingers would face-off in the second round.

[238] The result was not received particularly well by the Church gazette Glas Koncila editor Ivan Miklenić, who stated Josipović's legitimacy, but first pointed out that he was elected by less than a third of the total population, and claimed that he was supported by "obscure power centers".

[239] The secular Jutarnji list editor Davor Butković lambasted that opinion, saying he was personally a Catholic but was offended by the notion that the Church would undermine the election result.

He also noted that the new president remains "marked" by his agnosticism in relation to the right-wing voting body, but called on the Croatians to determine a basic consensus and avoid any accusations of "treason".

[248] The prime minister responded the very same night when she congratulated Josipović saying she invited the opposition leader for a coffee over six months ago claiming he refused.

This caused a stir within HRT against the main editor of the news program Hloverka Novak-Srzić who was faced with scandals long before the election night incident.