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This is a list of prime ministers of Croatia since the first multi-party elections in 1990. These Prime Ministers served within the Socialist Republic of Croatia, a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, and after independence in 1991, the Republic of Croatia. The Prime Ministers are ranked by the length of their combined terms in office.
Political parties: Croatian Democratic Union Social Democratic Party Independent
Prime Minister | Incumbency | Years in power | Number of mandates | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Andrej Plenković (incumbent) | 8 years, 256 days | 2016–present | 1 minority | Plenković served two full terms and is serving a third term. He has headed three cabinets, with all three of them being minority coalition governments (2016–2020, 2020-2024 and since 2024). Plenković is the longest-serving prime minister of Croatia. |
2 | Ivo Sanader | 5 years, 195 days | 2003–2009 | 2 minority & 1 majority | Sanader served one full term at the head of a minority government and one short term as the head of a majority government. He resigned during his second term. Jadranka Kosor served out the remainder of his second term. |
3 | Zlatko Mateša | 4 years, 81 days | 1995–2000 | 1 majority | Mateša served one full term. His cabinet has the single longest duration of any Croatian government since first multi-party elections in 1990. |
4 | Zoran Milanović | 4 years, 30 days | 2011–2016 | 1 majority | Milanović served one full term heading a majority coalition government. |
5 | Ivica Račan | 3 years, 330 days | 2000–2003 | 2 majority | Račan served one full term. He headed two cabinets: at first a six-party majority coalition (2000–2002) and then a five-party majority coalition (2002–2003). |
6 | Nikica Valentić | 2 years, 218 days | 1993–1995 | none | Valentić served out the term of Hrvoje Šarinić. He never won an election in his own right. |
7 | Jadranka Kosor | 2 years, 170 days | 2009–2011 | none | Jadranka Kosor served out the remainder of Ivo Sanader's second term. She never won an election in her own right. |
8 | Franjo Gregurić | 1 year, 26 days | 1991–1992 | none | Gregurić was the second of two Prime Ministers to serve out the term of Stjepan Mesić. He headed a National Unity Government at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence and had the parliamentary support of almost all parties. He never won an election in his own right. |
9 | Josip Manolić | 327 days | 1990–1991 | none | Manolić was the first of two Prime Ministers to serve out the remainder of the term of Stjepan Mesić, who had resigned to take up a seat in the Federal Presidency (Croatia did not formally declared independence until 25 June 1991). Manolić never won an election in his own right. He was succeeded by Franjo Gregurić. |
10 | Tihomir Orešković | 271 days | 2016 | 1 minority | Orešković served one short full term heading a minority coalition government. |
11 | Hrvoje Šarinić | 234 days | 1992–1993 | 1 majority | Šarinić served one term heading a majority government. Nikica Valentić served out the remainder of the term until the next election. |
12 | Stjepan Mesić | 86 days | 1990 | 1 majority | Mesić served one short term. He was elected Prime Minister by Parliament following the first multi-party election in 1990 (when Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia) and resigned to take up SR Croatia's seat in the Federal Presidency of Yugoslavia in Belgrade. The remaining 2 years of his term were served out by Josip Manolić and Franjo Gregurić. |
Andrej Plenković took office as prime minister on 19 October 2016. On 4 May 2022, he surpassed the tenure of Ivo Sanader (5 years, 195 days) and became the longest-serving prime minister of Croatia since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and independence on 25 June 1991. [1] [2] [3]
If he were to continuously hold the office until:
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