In the January 2000 election, they formed a four-party coalition with HSS, LS and IDS, which together won 25 seats in the Parliament, two of whom were HNS representatives.

As a result, the party participated in the 2000–2003 government of Ivica Račan through the minister of public works, construction and reconstruction Radimir Čačić.

A few weeks later, the coalition's candidate and HNS member Stjepan Mesić was elected President of the Republic.

Also in 2000, HNS elected a new party chair, Zagreb University professor of sociology of politics Vesna Pusić.

On 6 February 2005, most of the 1,250 representatives of HNS on its seventh convention voted to merge with Libra as the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats.

In April 2008 Radimir Čačić was elected as party chair after defeating Dragutin Lesar (MP).

After the coalition won, HNS entered the cabinet and held posts of foreign relations, commerce, culture etc.

After he was sentenced to a prison term due to a traffic accident in which two people died, he resigned from the cabinet and was forced to leave the party.

HNS held the same alliance in the parliamentary elections of 2015 and 2016 as a part of SDP-led People's coalition, switching to opposition.

[8] In the run-up to the 2024 Croatian parliamentary election, HNS-LD decided to run together with HDZ, nominating a total of 4 candidates in 4 electoral units.