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Angus Reid Global Monitor : Election Tracker
Croatia
Election Date: November 25, 2007
Abstract: At Stake: House of RepresentativesAt Stake: House of Representatives
Background
On Oct. 29, 1918, Croatia proclaimed its independence and with Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The union was named Yugoslavia in 1929.
Under Nazi occupation during World War II, Croatia was utilized as a political puppet for the regime. Croatian Fascists, known as the Ustachi, were responsible for slaughtering countless Serbs and Jews during the war.
Josip Broz Tito, the leader of one of the paramilitary armies that fought the Nazis, took over as head of government in 1943. Two years later, Croatia became a republic within the renovated communist Yugoslavia, but calls for outright independence continued
Tito stayed in power for life. Under his rule, his opponents were brutally crushed. Yugoslavia broke ties with the Soviet Union and tried to remain neutral during the Cold War. Tito's death in May 1980 made evident permanent divisions between different nationalities and ethnicities in Yugoslavia.
In 1991, Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia, triggering the start of a full-scale war. With the help of the Yugoslav Army, Croatian Serbs expelled non-Serbs from eastern areas of the country. A year later, the United Nations (UN) sent 14,000 peacekeeping troops to Croatia and instituted four protected areas.
In 1992, Franjo Tudjman of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the presidential election. Tudjman was in charge of a hard-line nationalist administration, which was internationally chided for its human rights record. Tudjman won re-election in 1997. His authoritarian style led the European Union (EU) to abandon any membership discussions with Croatia.
Tudjman died in 1999, just after he had declared he would stay in power because "national issues are more important than democracy." He was replaced on an interim basis by Vlatko Pavletic and Zlatko Tomic.
In February 2000, Stjepan Mesic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) became president, defeating Drazen Budisa of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) in a run-off.
In November 2003, Croatian voters renewed their House of
Representatives. The nationalists regained power after the vote. Ivo
Sanader of the HDZ was appointed as prime minister in December, and
formed a coalition government with the Democratic Centre (DC).
Click here for Croatia 2003 Election Tracker
Sanader's government vowed to cooperate with the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, established by UN
Security Council Resolution 827 to deal with "the serious violations of
international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former
Yugoslavia since 1991, and as a response to the threat to international
peace and security posed by those serious violations."
Croatia became an official candidate for EU membership in June 2004. President Mesic actively promoted the country's EU prospects. In October, EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen met with Mesic and declared Croatia "is not only sufficiently, but extraordinarily prepared for beginning negotiations." Croatia is expecting to join the international body in 2009.
Mesic was re-elected to a five-year term in January 2005 with 65.93 per cent of the vote, in a run-off against deputy prime minister Jandraka Kosor of the HDZ.
Click here for Croatia 2005 Presidential Election Tracker
2007 House of Representatives Election
The nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) currently holds 66 seats in the House of Representatives. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has 34, and works in coalition with the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the Party of Liberal Democrats (LIBRA) and the Liberal Party (LS). The Croatian People's Party (HNS) and the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) have 10 seats each.
In March 2007, SDP acting leader Zeljka Antunovic accused the HDZ government of corruption in a newspaper interview, saying, "Deals are rigged to the benefit of a chosen contractor and all others are meant to be only ornaments in something called rigged or fixed public tenders. There are many such examples and the state bodies that have an obligation to deal with this are not reacting." Antunovic also said her party is in favour of Croatia joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Antunovic led the party as SDP president Ivica Racan recovered from surgery.
On Apr. 11, the 63-year-old Racan announced his resignation as president of the SDP due to health reasons. Racan led the SDP for 17 years. He was considered as a key player in pushing Croatia's EU membership. Racan fell into a coma the day after announcing his resignation, and passed away on Apr. 29.
On Apr. 25, the European Parliament urged Croatia to speed up its reforms in order to complete the process of accession to the EU. A resolution drafted by the European Parliament read: "Croatia should do its utmost to carry out the necessary reforms so that the negotiations can be concluded in time for the European Parliament to give its assent before the next EU parliamentary election in June 2009." The report also noted Croatia's progress in introducing reforms related to public administration, the administration of courts and anti-corruption policy.
Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader commented on the report saying the key issue for Croatia was to receive confirmation of its accession treaty before the European Parliament's term expires in June 2009, adding, "If that happened, it would be a big success for Croatia."
In June, Zoran Milanovic, a young politician who had only been in the party for a short time, won the SDP's internal election and will lead the political organization into the 2007 ballot.
A late July poll by Metron placed the HDZ in first place with 25.2 per cent, followed by the SDP with 23.1 per cent.
In early August, Croatia celebrated the 12th anniversary of "Operation Storm" or Oluja, a military action that saw the Croats and the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina defeating the Croatian Serb army. The operation provoked the massive exile of about 200,000 Serbs. Both Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunika and Serbian president Boris Tadic condemned Croatia's ceremonies.
Croatian prime minister Sanader defended the celebrations, saying, "After Oluja, a number of individual crimes took place that need to be processed, but there is no collective guilt, and those individual crimes cannot put any shade on Oluja. The sooner Croatia enters the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the stronger its positions will be, and then nobody will be able to impose their truths and change its history."
In September, Milanovic expressed disappointment with the current government’s decision to mandate all ambassadors and consuls to lobby Croatians living overseas to vote, saying, “This is manipulative and wrong. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not a private ministry, HDZ does not mean Croatia. (...) State service is not a marketing agency.”
On Nov. 1, election officials revealed that 55 different parties have registered to take part in the contest.
On Nov. 11, Sanader called the SDP’s political program “the best propaganda for HDZ” because—according to him—people disagree with it. The prime minister claimed the opposition’s platform is based on “only two concrete points” that are “very bad for Croatia, and they are the legalization of drugs and the introduction of new taxes.”
Voting took place on Nov. 25. Final results gave the governing Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) 43.1 per cent of the vote and 66 seats, followed
by the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 36.6 per cent and
56 mandates. EU enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Croatian
politicians to start working on “fulfilling the necessary criteria” for
accession.
On Dec. 1, Milanovic expressed dissatisfaction with the result, saying,
“My duties and obligations towards the voters are to ensure the
majority to form the new cabinet. This is our democratic right,
coherently with the constitution and coherently with the democratic
praxis. (...) A man like Sanader does not deserve congratulations and
is not worthy to lead the Croatian cabinet.”
On Dec. 8, Croatian People’s Party (HNS) spokesperson Mladen Ruzman denied claims that the party is discussing a coalition with Sanader. Croatian president Stjepan Mesic also rejected the allegations, saying, “This is not accurate, it would be a great surprise for my advisors to do something and I was unaware of it. Since I don’t know, this means they are not working on it.”
On Dec. 15, Sanader was asked to form a new cabinet. On Jan. 12,
2008, Sanader’s proposed coalition government—encompassing the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Green-Yellow Coalition—was ratified in
an 82-62 legislative vote. The new cabinet features Ivan Suker as
finance ministe, Gordan Jandrokovic as foreign minister, Branko Vukelic
as defence minister, and Berislav Roncevic as interior minister.
Political Players
President: Stjepan Mesic - HNS
Prime minister: Ivo Sanader - HDZ
The president is elected to a five-year term by popular vote.
Legislative Branch: The Sabor (Assembly) has one chamber. The Zastupnicki Dom
(House of Representatives) currently has 151 members elected to
four-year terms; 143 members in multi-seat constituencies—including
four members chosen by proportional representation to express the views
of Croatians residing abroad—and eight members of ethnic communities
and minorities.
Results of Last Election:
President - Jan. 2 and Jan. 16, 2005
|
Jan. 2 |
Jan. 16 |
|
|
Stjepan Mesic - |
48.92% |
65.93% |
|
Jadranka Kosor - |
20.30% |
34.07% |
|
Boris Miksic |
17.79% |
-- |
|
Durda Adlesic - |
2.69% |
-- |
|
Slaven Letica - |
2.59% |
-- |
|
Ljubo Cesic Rojs |
1.85% |
-- |
|
Ivic Pasalic - Croatian Bloc - Movement |
1.82% |
-- |
|
Anto Kovacevic - Croatian |
0.86% |
-- |
|
Miroslav Blazevic |
0.80% |
-- |
|
Miroslav Rajh - |
0.66% |
-- |
|
Doris Kosta |
0.37% |
-- |
|
Mladen Keser |
0.32% |
-- |
|
Tomislav Petrak - |
0.12% |
-- |
House of Representatives - Nov. 25, 2007
|
Vote% |
Seats |
|
|
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) |
43.1% |
66 |
|
Social Democratic Party (SDP) |
36.6% |
56 |
|
Green-Yellow Coalition |
5.2% |
8 |
|
Croatian People’s Party - Liberal Democrats (HNS-LD) |
4.6% |
7 |
|
Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) |
2.0% |
3 |
|
Croatian Democratic Assembly of Slavonija and Baranja (HDSSB) |
2.0% |
3 |
|
HSU-DSU Coalition |
0.7% |
1 |
|
Croatian Right’s Party (HSP) |
0.7% |
1 |
|
DC-ZS Coalition |
0.0% |
-- |
|
Minority List - Independent Democratic Serbian Party (SDSS) |
2.0% |
3 |
|
Minority List - Party of Democratic Action of Croatia (SDAH) |
0.7% |
1 |
|
Other minority representatives |
2.6% |
4 |
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