Dražen Budiša (born 25 July 1948) is a Croatian politician who used to be a leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate.

During the 1990 elections his party joined the Coalition of People's Accord and fared badly, including Budiša who failed to win a seat.

In February 1992, he was the first ministers to break ranks, being opposed to the constitutional laws guaranteeing political autonomy of ethnic Serbs in exchange for their formal recognition of Croatian sovereignty.

However, Franjo Tuđman abused his powers - starting the Zagreb Crisis - and blocked four HSLS mayors suggested, including Budiša.

Budiša reacted by floating plans for coalition government with Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), hoping to attract their voters.

Budiša, who tried to woo followers of Franjo Tuđman during the second round, was embittered by this defeat and this led to his party turning increasingly right-wing and later squabbles with his government coalition partners.

Although those three seats later proved crucial in helping Ivo Sanader to form a parliamentary majority, Budiša, like Granić, took responsibility for the disaster and on 17 December 2003 resigned party leadership.