Politics of Croatia
[1] The first modern parties in the country developed in the middle of the 19th century, and their agenda and appeal changed, reflecting major social changes, such as the breakup of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, dictatorship and social upheavals in the kingdom, World War II, the establishment of Communist rule and the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia.
The powers of the legislature include enactment and amendment of the constitution and laws; adoption of the government budget, declarations of war and peace, defining national boundaries, calling referendums and elections, appointments and relief of officers, supervising the Government of Croatia and other holders of public powers responsible to the Sabor, and granting of amnesties.
Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e., whether they conflict with constitutionally established rights and freedoms.
[12] By the time EU accession negotiations were completed on 30 June 2010, Croatian legislation was fully harmonised with the Community acquis.
The constitution limits holders of the presidential office to a maximum of two terms and prevents the president from being a member of any political party.
As of 19 October 2016, the Deputy Prime Ministers are Martina Dalić, Davor Ivo Stier, Ivan Kovačić, and Damir Krstičević.
The powers of the legislature include enactment and amendment of the constitution, enactment of laws, adoption of the state budget, declarations of war and peace, alteration of the country's boundaries, calling and conducting referendums and 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 constitutional issues.
The presidential elections are regulated by the constitution and dedicated legislation; the latter defines technical details, appeals and similar issues.
Citizens of Croatia living abroad are counted in an eleventh constituency; however, its number of seats was not fixed for the last parliamentary election.
Constitutional changes first applied in the 2011 parliamentary election have abolished this scheme and permanently assigned three MPs to the eleventh constituency.
[17] The county prefects and city and municipal mayors are elected to four-year terms by majority of votes cast within applicable local government units.
[21] Members of county, city, and municipal councils are elected to four-year terms through proportional representation; the entire local government unit forms a single constituency.
[22] Croatia has a three-tiered, independent judicial system governed by the constitution and national legislation enacted by the Sabor.
[33] A special State Attorney's Office dedicated to combatting corruption and organised crime, USKOK, was set up in late 2001.
[39] The county prefects, city and municipal mayors are elected to four-year terms by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units.
[21] Members of county, city and municipal councils are elected to four-year terms, through proportional representation with the entire local government unit as a single constituency.
Electoral committees are then tasked with determining whether the national ethnic minorities are represented on the council as required by the constitution.
At the time, the Sabor and Ban Josip Jelačić advocated the severance of ties with the Kingdom of Hungary, emphasising links to other South Slavic lands within the empire.
Several prominent Croatian political figures emerged, such as Ante Starčević, Eugen Kvaternik, Franjo Rački and Josip Juraj Strossmayer.
This was compounded by Croatian claims of uninterrupted statehood since the early Middle Ages as a basis for a modern state.
They were opposed by the National Constitutional Party, which was in power for most of the period between the 1860s and the 1918, and advocated closer ties between Croatia and Hungary.
[45] The political situation deteriorated further as Stjepan Radić of the HSS was assassinated in the Yugoslav Parliament in 1928, leading to the dictatorship of King Alexander in January 1929.
[46] The HSS, now led by Vladko Maček, continued to advocate the federalisation of Yugoslavia, resulting in the Cvetković–Maček Agreement of August 1939 and the autonomous Banovina of Croatia.
The Yugoslav government retained control of defence, internal security, foreign affairs, trade, and transport while other matters were left to the Croatian Sabor and a crown-appointed Ban.
[47] This arrangement was soon made obsolete with the beginning of World War II, when the Independent State of Croatia, which banned all political opposition, was established.
[52] In January 1990, the Communist Party fragmented along national lines; the Croatian faction demanded a looser federation.
Franjo Gregurić, of the HDZ, was appointed prime minister to head a national unity government in July 1991 as the Croatian War of Independence escalated in intensity.
[56] In January 2020, former prime minister Zoran Milanovic of the Social Democrats (SDP) won the presidential election.
He defeated center-right incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the second round of the election.
