Politics of Croatia
Country name:conventional long form: Republic of Croatia
conventional short form: Croatia
local long form: Republika Hrvatska
local short form: Hrvatska
Government type: parliamentary/presidential democracy
Independence: June 25, 1991 (from Yugoslavia)
Constitution:
adopted on December 22, 1990
updates ratified:
- December 15, 1997 -- additional minority rights and verbiage changes
- September 11, 2000 -- changed from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary system; parliament name reverted to historic Hrvatski Sabor
- March 28, 2001 -- Chamber of Counties abolished, the Parliament becomes unicameral
- June 15, 2001 -- administrivia
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Flag:
red, white, and blue horizontal bands with Croatian coat of arms (red and white checkered).
see Flag of Croatia
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2 Judiciary branch 3 Executive branch 4 Regional government 5 Political parties 6 Current events 7 See also |
The Croatian legislature is the Hrvatski Sabor (Croatian Parliament).
The Sabor is unicameral which can have between 100 and 160 deputies (151 in 2003). All representatives are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.
The Chamber of Counties or Županijski Dom used to be composed of three deputies from each of the 21 counties (županije). However, as it had no practical power over the Chamber of Representatives, in 2001, the Chamber was abolished and whatever powers it had were transferred directly to the county governments.
The Sabor meets in public sessions twice a year -- January 15 to June 30 and September 15 to December 15. Extra sessions can be called by the President of the Republic, by the President of the Parliament or by Government. The powers of the legislature include enactment and amendment of the constitution; passage of laws; adoption of the state budget; declarations of war and peace; alteration of the boundaries of the Republic; calling referenda; carrying out elections, appointments, and relief of office; supervising the work of the Government of Croatia and other holders of public powers responsible to the Sabor; and granting amnesty.
Decisions are made based on a majority vote if more than half of the Chamber is present, except in cases of national rights and constitutional issues.
See http://www.sabor.hr/
The last parliamentary elections were held November 23 2003.
The Supreme Court ("Vrhovni sud") of the Republic of Croatia is the highest court. Court hearings are open, and judgments are made publicly, except in issues of privacy of the accused. Judges are appointed for eight year terms.
See http://www.vsrh.hr/
The Constitutional Court ("Ustavni sud") of the Republic of Croatia decides on the constitutionality of laws and has the right to repeal a law it finds unconstitutional. It also can impeach the president. The body is made up of 13 judges. The president of the Constitutional Court is elected by the court for a 4-year term.
See http://www.usud.hr/
The State Judiciary Council ("Državno Sudbeno Vijeće") of the Republic appoints judges of the Supreme Court. It is a body consisting of a president and 14 members proposed and elected by the Parliament for 8-year terms.
The main executive power of Croatian state is the government ("vlada"), presided by the Prime Minister. The government ministers (the cabinet) are proposed by the prime minister and elected by the Parliament. The prime minister is the head of government, appointed by the President with the consent of the Parliament.
See http://www.vlada.hr/
Current government:
Prime Minister: Ivica Račan (since January 27 2000);
The President of the Republic of Croatia is the head of state and is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. A president may not serve more than two terms. The president has limited executive powers and limited veto, but is still the commander in chief of the armed forces.
See http://www.predsjednik.hr/
Last election was held on 7 February 2000
(next to be held NA 2005)
Last election results:
Stjepan (Stipe) Mesić elected president, instated February 18 2000;
The country is composed of 20 counties (županijas) and one city (grad, Zagreb). The counties and county centers are:
Parties in Parliament (with leaders in parenthesis):
The IDS subsequently left the governing coalition in June 2001 over its inability to win greater autonomy for Istria. HSLS split (again) in 2002(?); the main faction left the government while a dissenting faction formed LIBRA and stayed in power.
Parties whose members are in parliamentary seats for minorities, parties that were previously in Parliament, or those that are otherwise worth listing:
Croatian politics are currently dominated by the legislative elections that occured on November 23, 2003.
The ruling center-left coalition of Social Democrat Party (SDP), Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), Croatian People's Party (HNS), Liberal Party (LS) and Libra was expected but failed to secure a majority in the elections. Rather, the right-center Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) improved its standing and almost won a majority. It is very likely to form a government in coalition with another party or several of them; the most obvious candidates are HSS and HSP.
Some analysts expect foreign relations to suffer under HDZ, but the policy of the new government may well depend on HDZ's coalition partner (HSS is far more pro-EU than HSP). The party itself, like most others in Croatia, pledges full cooperation with the European Union as part of the accession process.
The EU is expected to continue pressuring Croatia to accelerate the return of Serb refugees as the country fills out the economic conditions for accession to the Union.Legislative branch
Judiciary branch
Executive branch
Deputy Prime Ministers: Goran Granić, Željka Antunović, Slavko Linić (all since February 2000)
Government ministers are from a coalition of SDP, HSS, LS, HNS, Libra.
See 2000 Presidential elections of CroatiaRegional government
Political parties
The Social Democratic Party or SDP and the Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS formed a coalition as did the HSS, HNS, LS, and IDS, which together defeated the Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ in the 2000 parliamentary election.
Full list of parties available at http://www.hidra.hr/strankee/stranke.htm
Current events
