Both presidential candidates called on citizens to vote for them, each emphasising that they were the ones who would protect national interests the best and lead the country into the European Union.
Confident of winning the ballot, Kosor and Mesic stressed that they would advocate economic development of Croatia, promote production, particularly agriculture, and employment, and work towards raising the standard of living.
The two candidates said they would build friendly relations with neighbouring countries, but not to the detriment of Croatian interests, and that they would pay special attention to the most vulnerable social groups and offer effective and feasible social programmes.
Kosor criticised Mesic for supporting an agreement between the former prime ministers of Croatia and Slovenia, Ivica Racan and Janez Drnovsek, and quoted Mesic's statement from a 2001 newspaper article that the initialled agreement with Slovenia was the best solution.
Mesic responded by saying that he had not backed the agreement but only claimed that it was necessary to reach an agreement with Slovenia in order to resolve all outstanding issues with the neighbouring country.
Both candidates said they would advocate depoliticisation of the army, the police and the intelligence services, which they said should protect Croatia's national interests and the interests of its citizens. They also vowed to do their best in preventing corruption and crime.
Mesic said that it was Kosor who had signed a controversial decision awarding a highway construction contract to the US firm Bechtel in a direct deal rather than on the basis of a public tender, to which Kosor replied that she had signed the decision, but that the government had soon abandoned it.
Kosor said that Mesic caused damage to Croatia in 1994 when he accused it of aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina, to which Mesic responded by saying that his opposition to the HDZ's policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which he had expressed in a letter to the United States, had produced results because the then president of Croatia, the late Franjo Tudjman, had agreed with him and changed his policy.
"Tudjman would never have agreed with that letter," Kosor said.
Both candidates announced that, if elected, they would closely cooperate with the government. Kosor said she would suspend her membership in the HDZ after being sworn in as president.