The politics of Croatia are defined by a parliamentary, representative democratic republic framework, where the Prime Minister of Croatia is the head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Government and the President of Croatia. Legislative power is vested in the Croatian Parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The parliament adopted the current Constitution of Croatia on 22 December 1990 and decided to declare independence from Yugoslavia on 25 May 1991. The Constitutional Decision on the Sovereignty and Independence of the Republic of Croatia came into effect on 8 October 1991. The constitution has since been amended several times. The first modern parties in the country developed in the middle of the 19th century, and their agenda and appeal changed, reflecting major social changes, such as the breakup of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, dictatorship and social upheavals in the kingdom, World War II, the establishment of Communist rule and the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia.
Parliamentary elections to elect all 151 members of the Croatian Parliament were held on 23 November 2003. They were the fifth parliamentary elections to take place since the first multi-party elections in 1990. Voter turnout was 61.7%. The result was a victory for the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) which won a plurality of 66 seats, but fell short of the 76 needed to form a government. HDZ chairman Ivo Sanader was named the eighth Prime Minister of Croatia on 23 December 2003, after parliament passed a confidence motion in his government cabinet, with 88 MPs voting in favor, 29 against and 14 abstaining. The ruling coalition going into the elections, consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Croatian People's Party (HNS), Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and the Liberal Party (LS), did not contest the elections as a single bloc; the SDP ran with the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and the Liberal Party, HNS ran with the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar (PGS) and the Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party (SBHS), while HSS ran on its own.
Ivica Račan was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia is a social-democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is anti-fascist, progressive, and strongly pro-European. The SDP was formed in 1990 as the successor of the League of Communists of Croatia, the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, which had governed Croatia within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since World War II.
The Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats is a social-liberal political party in Croatia.
LIBRA - Party of Liberal Democrats was a short-lived Croatian social-liberal political party active between September 2002 and August 2005. During its existence the party ran in only one parliamentary election, in 2003, and won three seats in the 151-seat 5th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament.
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 3 January 2000 to elect members of the Chamber of Representatives.
Istrian Socialdemocratic Forum was a regional left-wing political party in Istria County of Croatia.
Damir Kajin is a Croatian politician.
Ivan Jakovčić is a Croatian politician who served as prefect of Istria County from 2001 to 2013.
The Seventh Government of the Republic of Croatia was the first of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivica Račan. It was appointed on 27 January 2000 by a decree of the Acting President of the Republic and Speaker of Parliament, Vlatko Pavletić. The cabinet was confirmed by a parliamentary vote of confidence in the Chamber of Representatives on 2 February 2000, with 122 of 151 Members of Parliament voting for, 1 against and 1 abstaining. Its term ended on 30 July 2002, when it was reconstructed and replaced by Cabinet of Ivica Račan II. The cabinet was formed following the 2000 parliamentary elections, in which the centre-right party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was defeated by a broad coalition of several centre-left parties. This marked an end to HDZ's dominance in Croatian politics since the first multi-party election in 1990. However, the period under Prime Minister Račan was marred with constant disagreements among coalition members, which later led to some parties leaving the ruling coalition. This ultimately paved the way for HDZ's return to power in the 2003 parliamentary elections.
The Eight Government of the Republic of Croatia was the second of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivica Račan. It was announced on 30 July 2002 and its term ended on 23 December 2003. Račan's second cabinet was formed after Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) had decided to leave the ruling six-party coalition. The cabinet was succeeded by Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I, following the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union's return to power in the 2003 parliamentary elections.
Rivers of Justice is a centre-left political alliance in Croatia. Gathered around the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), the coalition was originally formed in 2010 as the Kukuriku coalition. This somewhat facetious name meaning 'cock-a-doodle-doo', taken from a restaurant of the same name in Kastav where the coalition leaders first convened in July 2009, became well known and was eventually taken as the coalition's official name. The coalition originally consisted of four centrist and centre-left parties in the Croatian Parliament: the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS-LD), Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU) and Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS). The coalition won an absolute majority of seats in the 2011 parliamentary election and successfully formed a government led by Zoran Milanović (SDP).
Dragutin Lesar is a retired Croatian politician. Originally a union leader in the 1980s, he joined the liberal Croatian People's Party (HNS) in 1996. As member of HNS he was elected to the Croatian Parliament in the 2003 and 2007 general elections and served in the 5th and 6th Sabor. In April 2008 he resigned from HNS and continued to serve in the parliament as an independent. In April 2010 he founded the left wing Croatian Labourists – Labour Party (HL) and became their first party president.
Valter Flego is a Croatian politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament for Croatia since 2 July 2019. Previously he had served as the 4th prefect of Istria County from 2013 to 2019, as well as he served three terms as mayor of the town of Buzet. He is a member of the liberal Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) party.
Boris Miletić is a Croatian economist and politician who has been prefect of Istria County since 2021 and president of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) from 2014 to 2021.
Furio Radin is a Croatian politician who is currently serving as a Member of the Croatian Parliament for the Italian national minority, an office he has held since 7 September 1992. He has also been the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities since 2000, and one of the Deputy Speakers of the Parliament since 9 June 2017. Radin is the longest-serving Member of Parliament in Croatian history, with a service lasting 32 years, 5 days, as of 12 September 2024.
The Amsterdam Coalition was an electoral alliance of centre-left and liberal political parties in Croatia.
Luciano Delbianco was a Croatian electrical engineer, musician and politician who served two nonconsecutive terms as Mayor of Pula.
Istrianism or Istrianness is the name given to the regionalist identity developed by the inhabitants of the part of Istria located in Croatia. Istria is the biggest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea and a multiethnic region divided between Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. Italians and Slovenes live in both the Italian and Slovene parts, while in the Croatian part, there are Croats, Italians, Istro-Romanians and Istriot-speakers, as well as some non-native minorities. Most of Croatian Istria is located in the Istria County of the country. Istria is the region of Croatia where regionalist sentiment is the strongest.
