[2] The circumstances under which the elections took place were extraordinary - one third of the country was occupied by Krajina forces, while Croatia itself was involved in war raging in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Few people, however, doubted their legitimacy because the old Parliament, elected under the old Communist Constitution and in a time when Croatia had been part of Yugoslavia, clearly didn't correspond to the new political realities.

Franjo Tudjman and his Croatian Democratic Union party entered the campaign with great confidence, because Croatia, despite being partially occupied, had won independence and international recognition under his leadership.

State-controlled media at the time presented the war as practically won and peaceful reintegration of Krajina a mere formality that would occur in very foreseeable future.

The only places where HDZ was soundly beaten was Istria, where the local Istrian Democratic Assembly won all 3 constituencies, while one seat in nearby city of Rijeka was taken by Vladimir Bebić, representative of Alliance of Primorje - Gorski Kotar.

This was at the expense of the left-wing Social Democratic Union party, which won more votes than SNS and had more than enough ethnic Serb candidates on its list to fill the quota.