Croatian Democratic Union
Encyclopedia
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party
in Croatia
. It is the biggest (by number of members) and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic
HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003. The party is an associate member of the European People's Party
(EPP).
Despite such humble beginnings, the party quickly benefited from the loosening of Communist control. Tuđman and other HDZ officials traveled abroad and gathered large financial contributions from Croatian expatriates, with this reflected in a more nationalist HDZ platform.
On the eve of the 1990 elections
, the ruling Croatian Communist Party saw such tendencies within the HDZ as an opportunity to remain in power. The voting system was tailored to favour the two strongest parties and it was assumed that Croatian voters would opt for the ruling Communists, re-branded in as the Social Democratic Party of Croatia
, as a lesser evil than the HDZ, which they described as "the party of dangerous intentions". At the elections this proved to be miscalculation, because the overwhelming majority of Croatian people that voted in the election saw the patriotism of the HDZ not only as the best way to get rid of Communism and Yugoslavia
, but also as the proper answer to what they saw as "Serb nationalism", embodied in part by Slobodan Milošević
. The HDZ won a majority in the Croatian Parliament, and Croatia became one of the few countries of Eastern Europe where Communist single party rule was replaced by anti-Communist single party rule. May 30, 1990 - the day the HDZ formally took power - was later celebrated as Statehood Day, a public holiday in Croatia.
The presidential elections
followed in 1992 and Tuđman, who would remain as undisputed party leader until his death in 1999, was elected president.
The party ruled Croatia throughout the 1990s and under its leadership, Croatia became independent (1991), was internationally recognised (1992), and consolidated all of its pre-war territory (by 1998). During that period, the HDZ won both the 1992 and 1995 parliamentary elections.
As it strongly advocated Croatian independence, the HDZ was quite unpopular with the Serb minority, and others who preferred to see Croatia
remain inside the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
. This was one of the factors contributing to the creation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina
and the subsequent armed conflict in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina. The role of the HDZ in those events is matter of controversy, even in Croatia, where some tend to view HDZ policy in the early stages of the conflict as extremist and a contributing factor in the escalation of violence, while others see the HDZ as having appeased Serbia
and the Yugoslav People's Army
, and therefore, being responsible for Croatia being unprepared for defence. However, the policies of Tuđman and the HDZ shifted according to the circumstances.
from communism to capitalism. Notably, HDZ governments implemented privatization
in the country, in a manner that critics consider sub-optimal, and at times possibly illegal, due to the selective nature of the nationalizations. According to the HDZ, this process proved a useful distraction from dealing with the baggage of post World War II communist nationalizations. In fact it was the HDZ in 1992 which enacted into law the right of corporation
s (the vast majority of which were under state ownership) the right to finally formally register themselves as the owners of nationalized property, thus completing their own version of a process of quasi-nationalization started by the communist regime after WWII, in different targeted areas for their own gain.
As a result of these, and other, schemes, that had been planned before the break-up of Yugoslavia, many "tycoons" emerged in a pattern of state-sponsored loans brokered with HDZ influence, with the purpose of dissolving state ownership. This model was widely abused, not only by the HDZ, but also by other political parties.
Not all of the nationalized property was dealt with in this way. The property of those who could lobby the HDZ, or who had substantial influence in Croatian politics, was returned without much delay, while others had to wait for justice. Property returned included possessions nationalized from the Catholic Church
or from widely known individuals such as Gavrilović, the owner of a major meat-producing factory in Petrinja
, south of Zagreb. Restitution for land seized during the break-up of Yugoslavia is still of great public concern.
. Later, the party described itself as centre-right
and Christian Democrat. However, the only official ideology was nationalism
. In practice, this policy saw the powerful defence minister Gojko Šušak
, head of the HDZ hardline faction, win Tuđman's favour. Stjepan Mesić
and Josip Manolić
, Tuđman's associates opposed to such tendencies, left the party in 1994 and formed the Croatian Independent Democrats
. These tendencies were toned down after the end of the war and the HDZ, concerned with more mundane aspects of politics, became a mainly social conservative party.
The end of war and reintegration of Croatian territory also switched Croatian people's attention from independence and foreign relations to the more mundane issues of the economy and living standards. In the late 1990s this coincided with Tuđman's illness, which sparked bitter succession struggles between various factions within the HDZ. These factions fought using friendly media and by leaking compromising information about their opponents' roles in the shadier aspects of privatisation. This, as well as Tuđman's mishandling of the Zagreb Crisis
, did much to undermine HDZ credibility.
. Although the HDZ remained the largest single party, it was defeated by a left-centre coalition of six opposition parties and many saw the large turnout as a referendum against the HDZ, just as the 1990 elections had been seen as a referendum on Communism and Yugoslavia. This impression was underlined at the subsequent presidential election
, when the HDZ candidate Mate Granić
, heavily favoured to win, finished third and therefore failed to enter the second round of voting, won by Stipe Mesić
.
In the period from 2000 and 2003, several businessmen who became tycoons under the initial HDZ rule were tried and convicted for alleged abuses, though in general the privatization process implemented by the HDZ remained unaltered.
This period proved to be a low point for the HDZ and many thought that party could not recover. Those included Mate Granić, who, together with Vesna Škare-Ožbolt
, left to form the centre-right Democratic Centre (DC).
The HDZ began to recover when the International Criminal Tribunal began to prosecute Croatian Army commanders, thus provoking a major backlash among the Croatian public. Popular discontent manifested itself in mass rallies as the public came to terms with the changes in the party and its policies. Although the HDZ, and its new leader Ivo Sanader
, took part in those events and supported the protests, they gradually began to distance themselves from the more extreme rhetoric, becoming perceived as moderates. This tendency continued when the Croatian Social Liberal Party
shifted rightwards, making Sanader's HDZ appear centrist in comparison. This process was completed in 2002 when Ivić Pašalić
, leader of the HDZ hardliners and perceived to be associated with the worst excesses of Tuđman's era, challenged Sanader for the party leadership, accusing him of betraying Tuđman's nationalist legacy. At first it looked that Sanader would lose, but with the help of Branimir Glavaš
and the tacit support of liberal sections of Croatian public opinion, he won at the party convention. Pašalić then left the HDZ to form the Croatian Bloc party.
This allowed Sanader to present the HDZ as a "reforming" party, one that would completely face what they had created, purged of some of the more controversial aspects of the Tuđman legacy, and to convince the public that returning the HDZ to power would not jeopardise democratic standards in Croatia. As such, the HDZ started to be perceived as a credible democratic alternative to the government of Ivica Račan
, then plagued by the same indecision, inefficiency, corruption and factional struggles, though it was the tip of the iceberg with much more to come.
.
With such a broad and diverse mandate, the Sanader-led government vigorously pursued policies that amounted to the implementation of the basic criteria for joining the European Union
, such as the return of refugees to their homes, rebuilding houses damaged in the war, improving minority rights by including minority representatives in the government, cooperating with the ICTY, and continuing to consolidate the Croatian economy. Despite this, the EU's Council of Ministers postponed Croatia's membership negotiations with the union on the grounds of its non-cooperation with the Hague Tribunal
over the case of indicted general Ante Gotovina
.
This setback brought an increase in Eurosceptic
views among the Croatian public, which also affected support for the HDZ. Since accession to the EU was a key part of Sanader's reformist course, opposition to his leadership within and outside HDZ was on the rise. This opposition manifested itself at the 2005 local elections and the defection of Glavaš, who not only successfully challenged Sanader's authority but also managed to nominally deprive Sanader of his parliamentary majority.
in late November 2007 saw the HDZ hard-pressed both by the SDP
-led leftist coalition and by the extreme right wing Croatian Party of Rights
and Croatian Democratic Assembly of Slavonia and Baranja.
During the electoral campaign a vigorous and sometimes ruthless reaction from the party and Sanader himself, together with some capital errors from SDP, convinced part of the far right electorate to support the HDZ in order to prevent what they perceived as the heirs of the former communist party to return to power. The party won a majority of both seats and votes in the election, and the first session of the newly elected parliament was called for 11 January 2008. However, the SDP repeatedly refused to acknowledge defeat, claiming that they had the most votes if the Diaspora
ballot was not taken into account. The HDZ gained the support of the "yellow green coalition" (HSS-HSLS) and of the HSU and national minorities representatives, and so a second government, still led by Ivo Sanader
, was formed.
Although that government had a larger majority than the former one, its existence remained troubled, because of the worsening of the previously good economic situation and a weariness of Croatian public opinion about what was felt to be an overly long HDZ rule. Another major drawback was the Slovenia
n blocking of several chapters of Croatia's EU accession terms, until border disputes between the two countries had been settled. Although this ultimately lead to an indefinite suspension of the Croatian EU accession negotiations, it had no impact on the government's popularity. In this case, as would be expected, considering Croatian staunch patriotism
and national self-consciousness
, all parties and nearly every Croatian citizen were absolutely adamant in refusing at any cost any concessions over matters of national interest
.
In the general local elections held in May 2009, the HDZ, against all expectations, managed to grow again, coming ahead of the SDP. However, HDZ support did weaken in the larger cities.
On 1st July 2009, Ivo Sanader abruptly announced his resignation from politics and appointed Jadranka Kosor
as his successor. She was confirmed as the new leader of the party on 4th July, and was appointed by president Stipe Mesic as the prime minister-designate. Two days later the Sabor
confirmed Kosor as the new prime minister, the first woman to hold the position.
In the same resignation speech, Sanader also appointed Andrija Hebrang
, who had formerly held the posts of defence minister
and health minister
, as HDZ candidate for the incoming presidential election, so decreasing any speculation about his own ambitions for that position.
accepted his designation as the presidential candidate only at the end of July, after he underwent a thorough medical examination, to exclude any remaining trace of a previous carcinoma
.
The Kosor government remained mostly unchanged from the previous Sanader government, but the HDZ suffered some internal turmoil as ministers Berislav Rončević
and Damir Polančec
left their posts after allegations of corruption.
In the next presidential elections, Croatia was looking for a replacement for Stipe Mesić who had held the position for ten years. But Hebrang finished third, failing to reach the second stage in which SDP candidate Ivo Josipović
overwhelmingly defeated former SDP member Milan Bandić
.
However, many Croatian people were dissatisfied with the government, and protested on the streets against the HDZ government, demanding that new elections be held as soon as possible. The police placed a guard on St. Mark's Square
, to prevent civilians from entering.
From 26 October 2011 USKOK
expanded it's investigation about "Slush Funds" on Croatian Democratic Union as legal entity. Previously, investigation included only Ivo Sanader
, treasurers Milan Barišić and Branka Pavošević, general secretaries Branko Vukelić
and Ivan Jarnjak and spokesman Ratko Maček. Jadranka Kosor
, president of the party, stated that this is one of the most critical moments of Croatian Democratic Union.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. It is the biggest (by number of members) and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003. The party is an associate member of the European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
(EPP).
Origins
The HDZ was founded in 17 June 1989 by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by Franjo Tuđman. When the party was founded, the multi-party system in Croatia was at an embryonic stage and open manifestations of Croatian nationalism were frowned upon. The HDZ was founded in an almost conspiratorial manner, and its first offices were in a Zagreb shack. Because of that the party founders proudly call themselves barakaši - from "baraka", which is the Croatian word for "shack".Despite such humble beginnings, the party quickly benefited from the loosening of Communist control. Tuđman and other HDZ officials traveled abroad and gathered large financial contributions from Croatian expatriates, with this reflected in a more nationalist HDZ platform.
On the eve of the 1990 elections
Croatian parliamentary election, 1990
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 22 April 1990, with a second round of voting on 6 May. The first free elections since multi-party politics were introduced, they resulted in a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 55 of the 80 seats...
, the ruling Croatian Communist Party saw such tendencies within the HDZ as an opportunity to remain in power. The voting system was tailored to favour the two strongest parties and it was assumed that Croatian voters would opt for the ruling Communists, re-branded in as the Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
, as a lesser evil than the HDZ, which they described as "the party of dangerous intentions". At the elections this proved to be miscalculation, because the overwhelming majority of Croatian people that voted in the election saw the patriotism of the HDZ not only as the best way to get rid of Communism and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, but also as the proper answer to what they saw as "Serb nationalism", embodied in part by Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
. The HDZ won a majority in the Croatian Parliament, and Croatia became one of the few countries of Eastern Europe where Communist single party rule was replaced by anti-Communist single party rule. May 30, 1990 - the day the HDZ formally took power - was later celebrated as Statehood Day, a public holiday in Croatia.
Tuđman presidency
Croatian presidential election, 1992
Presidential elections were held in Croatia for the first time on 2 August 1992 alongside simultaneous parliamentary elections. The result was a victory for Franjo Tuđman of the Croatian Democratic Union , who received 57.8% of the vote...
followed in 1992 and Tuđman, who would remain as undisputed party leader until his death in 1999, was elected president.
The party ruled Croatia throughout the 1990s and under its leadership, Croatia became independent (1991), was internationally recognised (1992), and consolidated all of its pre-war territory (by 1998). During that period, the HDZ won both the 1992 and 1995 parliamentary elections.
As it strongly advocated Croatian independence, the HDZ was quite unpopular with the Serb minority, and others who preferred to see Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
remain inside the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. This was one of the factors contributing to the creation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
and the subsequent armed conflict in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina. The role of the HDZ in those events is matter of controversy, even in Croatia, where some tend to view HDZ policy in the early stages of the conflict as extremist and a contributing factor in the escalation of violence, while others see the HDZ as having appeased Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
, and therefore, being responsible for Croatia being unprepared for defence. However, the policies of Tuđman and the HDZ shifted according to the circumstances.
Transition to capitalism
The HDZ also began to lead Croatia toward political and economic transitionPost-Communism
Post-communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic transformation or "transition" in former Communist states located in parts of Europe and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary...
from communism to capitalism. Notably, HDZ governments implemented privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
in the country, in a manner that critics consider sub-optimal, and at times possibly illegal, due to the selective nature of the nationalizations. According to the HDZ, this process proved a useful distraction from dealing with the baggage of post World War II communist nationalizations. In fact it was the HDZ in 1992 which enacted into law the right of corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s (the vast majority of which were under state ownership) the right to finally formally register themselves as the owners of nationalized property, thus completing their own version of a process of quasi-nationalization started by the communist regime after WWII, in different targeted areas for their own gain.
As a result of these, and other, schemes, that had been planned before the break-up of Yugoslavia, many "tycoons" emerged in a pattern of state-sponsored loans brokered with HDZ influence, with the purpose of dissolving state ownership. This model was widely abused, not only by the HDZ, but also by other political parties.
Not all of the nationalized property was dealt with in this way. The property of those who could lobby the HDZ, or who had substantial influence in Croatian politics, was returned without much delay, while others had to wait for justice. Property returned included possessions nationalized from the Catholic Church
Catholic Church in Croatia
Roman Catholicism in Croatia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.There are an estimated 3.8 million baptised Roman Catholics in Croatia, roughly 85% of the population. The national sanctuary of Croatia is in Marija Bistrica...
or from widely known individuals such as Gavrilović, the owner of a major meat-producing factory in Petrinja
Petrinja
Petrinja is a city in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banovina. The city belongs to Sisak-Moslavina County .- History :The name of Petrinja has its roots in Latin petrus, meaning "stone"...
, south of Zagreb. Restitution for land seized during the break-up of Yugoslavia is still of great public concern.
Ideology
In terms of ideology, HDZ leaders at first described their party as right-wing, and Tuđman himself stated that he was inspired by ThatcherismThatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
. Later, the party described itself as centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
and Christian Democrat. However, the only official ideology was nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. In practice, this policy saw the powerful defence minister Gojko Šušak
Gojko Šušak
Gojko Šušak was the Croatian Minister of Defence from 1991 to 1998. A Bosnian Croat emigreé to Canada, he entered the political life of Croat diaspora in North America, subsequently becoming a close friend and associate to Franjo Tuđman, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union, a nationalistic...
, head of the HDZ hardline faction, win Tuđman's favour. Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
and Josip Manolić
Josip Manolic
Josip Manolić is a Croatian politician who was one of the most important public figures in 1990s Croatia. He was prime minister of the Republic of Croatia from August 24, 1990 to July 17, 1991.-Background and political career:...
, Tuđman's associates opposed to such tendencies, left the party in 1994 and formed the Croatian Independent Democrats
Croatian Independent Democrats
Croatian Independent Democrats was a political party in Croatia.-History:Its founders were members of moderate faction within Croatian Democratic Union...
. These tendencies were toned down after the end of the war and the HDZ, concerned with more mundane aspects of politics, became a mainly social conservative party.
The end of war and reintegration of Croatian territory also switched Croatian people's attention from independence and foreign relations to the more mundane issues of the economy and living standards. In the late 1990s this coincided with Tuđman's illness, which sparked bitter succession struggles between various factions within the HDZ. These factions fought using friendly media and by leaking compromising information about their opponents' roles in the shadier aspects of privatisation. This, as well as Tuđman's mishandling of the Zagreb Crisis
Zagreb Crisis
The Zagreb crisis is the name used to describe a political crisis that followed the elections for the City of Zagreb local assembly held in October 1995...
, did much to undermine HDZ credibility.
HDZ after Tuđman's death
All this, together with Tuđman's death in December 1999, had an impact on the 2000 parliamentary electionsCroatian parliamentary election, 2000
Elections for the Chamber of Representatives of the Croatian Parliament were held on January 3, 2000. These were the first elections to be held after the expiration of a full term of the previous Chamber....
. Although the HDZ remained the largest single party, it was defeated by a left-centre coalition of six opposition parties and many saw the large turnout as a referendum against the HDZ, just as the 1990 elections had been seen as a referendum on Communism and Yugoslavia. This impression was underlined at the subsequent presidential election
Croatian presidential election, 2000
Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 24 January 2000. As no candidate passed the 50% threshold, a secound round was held on 7 February, the first time a second round had been required in the country's history. The result was a victory for Stjepan Mesić of the Croatian People's Party, who...
, when the HDZ candidate Mate Granić
Mate Granic
Mate Granić is a Croatian diplomat and politician who was part of the Croatian Government in much of the 1990s.Granić was born in Baška Voda in Dalmatia...
, heavily favoured to win, finished third and therefore failed to enter the second round of voting, won by Stipe Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
.
In the period from 2000 and 2003, several businessmen who became tycoons under the initial HDZ rule were tried and convicted for alleged abuses, though in general the privatization process implemented by the HDZ remained unaltered.
This period proved to be a low point for the HDZ and many thought that party could not recover. Those included Mate Granić, who, together with Vesna Škare-Ožbolt
Vesna Škare-Ožbolt
Vesna Škare-Ožbolt is a Croatian politician.Before the first democratic elections in 1990, Škare-Ožbolt used to work in Croatian judiciary...
, left to form the centre-right Democratic Centre (DC).
The HDZ began to recover when the International Criminal Tribunal began to prosecute Croatian Army commanders, thus provoking a major backlash among the Croatian public. Popular discontent manifested itself in mass rallies as the public came to terms with the changes in the party and its policies. Although the HDZ, and its new leader Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
, took part in those events and supported the protests, they gradually began to distance themselves from the more extreme rhetoric, becoming perceived as moderates. This tendency continued when the Croatian Social Liberal Party
Croatian Social Liberal Party
Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS is a conservative liberal political party in Croatia. The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Its current president is Darinko Kosor, elected to that post in November 2009.-Chronology:The HSLS was...
shifted rightwards, making Sanader's HDZ appear centrist in comparison. This process was completed in 2002 when Ivić Pašalić
Ivić Pašalić
Ivić Pašalić is a Croatian right-wing politician.Pašalić was born to a Croatian family in Šuica, Bosnia and Herzegovina . He was a physician in Zagreb before the arrival of democracy in Croatia. In 1990 he joined the Croatian Democratic Union and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the...
, leader of the HDZ hardliners and perceived to be associated with the worst excesses of Tuđman's era, challenged Sanader for the party leadership, accusing him of betraying Tuđman's nationalist legacy. At first it looked that Sanader would lose, but with the help of Branimir Glavaš
Branimir Glavaš
Branimir Glavaš is a controversial Croatian right-wing politician and a convicted war criminal.Glavaš came to prominence in his home city of Osijek during the Croatian war of independence, when he led its defense and became a major general in the Croatian Army...
and the tacit support of liberal sections of Croatian public opinion, he won at the party convention. Pašalić then left the HDZ to form the Croatian Bloc party.
This allowed Sanader to present the HDZ as a "reforming" party, one that would completely face what they had created, purged of some of the more controversial aspects of the Tuđman legacy, and to convince the public that returning the HDZ to power would not jeopardise democratic standards in Croatia. As such, the HDZ started to be perceived as a credible democratic alternative to the government of Ivica Račan
Ivica Racan
Ivica Račan was a Croatian career politician, leader of the League of Communists of Croatia and later Social Democratic Party from 1989 to 2007...
, then plagued by the same indecision, inefficiency, corruption and factional struggles, though it was the tip of the iceberg with much more to come.
First Sanader government 2003–2008
At the legislative elections of November 2003, the party won 33.9% of the popular vote and 66 out of 151 seats. Although it failed to win a clear majority in the Croatian Parliament, even with the help of the allied DC and HSLS, it formed a government with the nominally left-wing Independent Democratic Serb Party and the Croatian Party of PensionersCroatian Party of Pensioners
The Croatian Party of Pensioners is a Croatian political party. It is currently led by Silvano Hrelja.When the Party was founded, few people took it seriously and many commentators speculated that the ultimate purpose of HSU was take away pensioners' votes from rejuvenated SDP and thus help ruling...
.
With such a broad and diverse mandate, the Sanader-led government vigorously pursued policies that amounted to the implementation of the basic criteria for joining the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, such as the return of refugees to their homes, rebuilding houses damaged in the war, improving minority rights by including minority representatives in the government, cooperating with the ICTY, and continuing to consolidate the Croatian economy. Despite this, the EU's Council of Ministers postponed Croatia's membership negotiations with the union on the grounds of its non-cooperation with the Hague Tribunal
Hague Tribunal
Hague Tribunal is a popular name for the Permanent Court of Arbitration established in 1899.*Permanent Court of Arbitration, a permanent arbitration court*Permanent Court of International Justice , superseded by:*International Court of Justice...
over the case of indicted general Ante Gotovina
Ante Gotovina
Ante Gotovina is a former Senior Corporal of the French Foreign Legion and former Lieutenant General of the Croatian Army who served in the Croatian War for Independence...
.
This setback brought an increase in Eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
views among the Croatian public, which also affected support for the HDZ. Since accession to the EU was a key part of Sanader's reformist course, opposition to his leadership within and outside HDZ was on the rise. This opposition manifested itself at the 2005 local elections and the defection of Glavaš, who not only successfully challenged Sanader's authority but also managed to nominally deprive Sanader of his parliamentary majority.
Second Sanader government 2008-2009
Despite this defeat, the first Sanader led government was able to survive until the end of the legislature. The subsequent parliamentary electionCroatian parliamentary election, 2007
Parliamentary elections to the Croatian Parliament were held on 25 November 2007 in Croatia and on 24 November and 25 November 2007 abroad. The campaign officially started on 3 November...
in late November 2007 saw the HDZ hard-pressed both by the SDP
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...
-led leftist coalition and by the extreme right wing Croatian Party of Rights
Croatian Party of Rights
The Croatian Party of Rights is a right-wing political party in Croatia. The "right" in the party's name refer to the idea of Croatian national and ethnic rights that the party has vowed to protect since its founding in the 19th century...
and Croatian Democratic Assembly of Slavonia and Baranja.
During the electoral campaign a vigorous and sometimes ruthless reaction from the party and Sanader himself, together with some capital errors from SDP, convinced part of the far right electorate to support the HDZ in order to prevent what they perceived as the heirs of the former communist party to return to power. The party won a majority of both seats and votes in the election, and the first session of the newly elected parliament was called for 11 January 2008. However, the SDP repeatedly refused to acknowledge defeat, claiming that they had the most votes if the Diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
ballot was not taken into account. The HDZ gained the support of the "yellow green coalition" (HSS-HSLS) and of the HSU and national minorities representatives, and so a second government, still led by Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
, was formed.
Although that government had a larger majority than the former one, its existence remained troubled, because of the worsening of the previously good economic situation and a weariness of Croatian public opinion about what was felt to be an overly long HDZ rule. Another major drawback was the Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n blocking of several chapters of Croatia's EU accession terms, until border disputes between the two countries had been settled. Although this ultimately lead to an indefinite suspension of the Croatian EU accession negotiations, it had no impact on the government's popularity. In this case, as would be expected, considering Croatian staunch patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
and national self-consciousness
Self-consciousness
Self-consciousness is an acute sense of self-awareness. It is a preoccupation with oneself, as opposed to the philosophical state of self-awareness, which is the awareness that one exists as an individual being; although some writers use both terms interchangeably or synonymously...
, all parties and nearly every Croatian citizen were absolutely adamant in refusing at any cost any concessions over matters of national interest
National interest
The national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État , is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist...
.
In the general local elections held in May 2009, the HDZ, against all expectations, managed to grow again, coming ahead of the SDP. However, HDZ support did weaken in the larger cities.
On 1st July 2009, Ivo Sanader abruptly announced his resignation from politics and appointed Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor is a Croatian politician and former journalist. She is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on July 6, 2009, following the sudden resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader. She is Croatia's first female Prime Minister since independence.-Early life:Jadranka...
as his successor. She was confirmed as the new leader of the party on 4th July, and was appointed by president Stipe Mesic as the prime minister-designate. Two days later the Sabor
Parliament of Croatia
The Parliament of Croatia or the Sabor is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia and legislature of the country. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, represents the people and is vested with the legislative power...
confirmed Kosor as the new prime minister, the first woman to hold the position.
In the same resignation speech, Sanader also appointed Andrija Hebrang
Andrija Hebrang (son)
Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament...
, who had formerly held the posts of defence minister
Ministry of Defence (Croatia)
The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia is the ministry in the Government of Croatia which is in charge of the nation's military. The ministry was established in 1990.-Ministers:-References:...
and health minister
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (Croatia)
The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Republic of Croatia is the ministry in the Government of Croatia which is in charge of health care and welfare.-List of ministers:...
, as HDZ candidate for the incoming presidential election, so decreasing any speculation about his own ambitions for that position.
Government of Jadranka Kosor
The HDZ was faced with bad poll ratings and a large clean-up task that was still underway when Sanader left. The officials used the 2009 convention to elect Jadranka Kosor the party president by acclamation, and proceeded to make various unpopular measures to tackle the economic crisis. Andrija HebrangAndrija Hebrang (son)
Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament...
accepted his designation as the presidential candidate only at the end of July, after he underwent a thorough medical examination, to exclude any remaining trace of a previous carcinoma
Carcinoma
Carcinoma is the medical term for the most common type of cancer occurring in humans. Put simply, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that generally arises from cells originating in the endodermal or ectodermal germ layer during...
.
The Kosor government remained mostly unchanged from the previous Sanader government, but the HDZ suffered some internal turmoil as ministers Berislav Rončević
Berislav Roncevic
Berislav Rončević is a Croatian politician, and the former Minister of Internal Affairs in the Government of Croatia and the Minister of Defense....
and Damir Polančec
Damir Polančec
Damir Polančec is a Croatian politician. Polančec served as the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship in the Croatian Government of Ivo Sanader and later Jadranka Kosor between 2003 and 2009.On October 30, 2009, Polančec resigned citing a need to avoid damaging...
left their posts after allegations of corruption.
In the next presidential elections, Croatia was looking for a replacement for Stipe Mesić who had held the position for ten years. But Hebrang finished third, failing to reach the second stage in which SDP candidate Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović is a Croatian politician who has been President of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia , and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the...
overwhelmingly defeated former SDP member Milan Bandić
Milan Bandic
Milan Bandić is an influential Croatian politician currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Croatia's capital, Zagreb. Between 2000 and 2009, he was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . In 2007, he unsuccessfully ran for party president. However, he remained one of...
.
However, many Croatian people were dissatisfied with the government, and protested on the streets against the HDZ government, demanding that new elections be held as soon as possible. The police placed a guard on St. Mark's Square
St. Mark's Square, Zagreb
St. Mark's Square is a square located in the old part of Zagreb, Croatia, called Gradec or Gornji grad .In the center of square is located St. Mark's Church. The square also sports important governmental buildings: Banski dvori , Croatian Parliament and Constitutional Court of Croatia. On the...
, to prevent civilians from entering.
From 26 October 2011 USKOK
USKOK
USKOK is a Croatian government institution. It is a State Attorney office specialized in corruption and organized crime.USKOK started work in December 2001...
expanded it's investigation about "Slush Funds" on Croatian Democratic Union as legal entity. Previously, investigation included only Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...
, treasurers Milan Barišić and Branka Pavošević, general secretaries Branko Vukelić
Branko Vukelic
Branko Vukelić is a Croatian politician and former Minister of Defence, and member of the Croatian Democratic Union.Vukelić graduated from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, in 1981, and is married with one child....
and Ivan Jarnjak and spokesman Ratko Maček. Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor
Jadranka Kosor is a Croatian politician and former journalist. She is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on July 6, 2009, following the sudden resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader. She is Croatia's first female Prime Minister since independence.-Early life:Jadranka...
, president of the party, stated that this is one of the most critical moments of Croatian Democratic Union.
List of presidential candidates
- 1992Croatian presidential election, 1992Presidential elections were held in Croatia for the first time on 2 August 1992 alongside simultaneous parliamentary elections. The result was a victory for Franjo Tuđman of the Croatian Democratic Union , who received 57.8% of the vote...
- Franjo Tuđman (Won, with 56.73% of votes in first round) - 1997Croatian presidential election, 1997Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 15 June 1997. The result was a victory for Franjo Tuđman of the Croatian Democratic Union , who received 61.4% of the vote. Voter turnout was 54.6%.-Results:...
- Franjo Tuđman (Won, with 61.41% of votes in first round) - 2000Croatian presidential election, 2000Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 24 January 2000. As no candidate passed the 50% threshold, a secound round was held on 7 February, the first time a second round had been required in the country's history. The result was a victory for Stjepan Mesić of the Croatian People's Party, who...
- Mate GranićMate GranicMate Granić is a Croatian diplomat and politician who was part of the Croatian Government in much of the 1990s.Granić was born in Baška Voda in Dalmatia...
(Finished third with 22.47% of votes in first round) - 2005Croatian presidential election, 2005The fourth presidential elections in Croatia took place in two rounds in January 2005.-Background:The State Elections Committee published a list of candidates on 15 December 2004. President Stjepan Mesić stood for re-election, and the governing HDZ nominated cabinet minister Jadranka Kosor...
- Jadranka KosorJadranka KosorJadranka Kosor is a Croatian politician and former journalist. She is the current Prime Minister of Croatia, having taken office on July 6, 2009, following the sudden resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader. She is Croatia's first female Prime Minister since independence.-Early life:Jadranka...
(Finished second with 20.31% of votes in first round and was runner-up in second round with 34.07% of votes) - 2010Croatian presidential election, 2010The first round of the fifth presidential election in Croatia was held on Sunday, December 27, 2009, with twelve candidates participating. The second round between first-round winner Ivo Josipović and first-round runner-up Milan Bandić was held on Sunday, January 10, 2010...
- Andrija HebrangAndrija Hebrang (son)Andrija Hebrang is a Croatian physician and politician. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union , he is currently member of the Croatian Parliament...
(Finished third with 12.04% of votes in first round)