Party of Liberal Democrats LIBRA - Stranka liberalnih demokrata | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jozo Radoš |
| Founded | 21 September 2002 |
| Dissolved | 23 August 2005 |
| Split from | Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) |
| Merged into | Croatian People's Party (HNS) |
| Ideology | Social liberalism |
| Colours | Blue Yellow |
LIBRA - Party of Liberal Democrats (Croatian : LIBRA - Stranka liberalnih demokrata or LIBRA for short, also spelled Libra) was a short-lived Croatian social-liberal [1] political party active between September 2002 and August 2005. [2] During its existence the party ran in only one parliamentary election, in 2003, and won three seats in the 151-seat 5th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament.
LIBRA was formed in July 2002 and formally registered in September that year, following a split in the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) when a faction led by Jozo Radoš, then defence minister in the Cabinet of Ivica Račan I, opposed HSLS leader Dražen Budiša's decision to leave the ruling five-party centre-left coalition dominated by SDP, in the hopes of provoking an early election. However, then Prime Minister Ivica Račan managed to avoid a fresh election by forming a reconstructed Cabinet of Ivica Račan II on 30 July 2002, with the newly formed LIBRA holding two seats in the cabinet - Goran Granić as Deputy Prime Minister, and Roland Žuvanić as Minister for Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications.
Until the end of the 4th Assembly in October 2003, the party was represented in the Croatian Parliament with nine members, all former HSLS members, with Ivo Škrabalo as head of the party club. [3]
LIBRA then ran in the November 2003 election as a junior partner in a centre-left coalition with Social Democratic Party (SDP), Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) and the Liberal Party (LS). The coalition lost the election to the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), winning a total of 43 seats in a 151-seat parliament, out of which only 3 belonged to LIBRA.
In February 2005 party members voted to merge with the Croatian People's Party (HNS) which changed its name in Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats (HNS-LD or, more commonly, just HNS). Two of LIBRA's MPs in the 5th Assembly, Jozo Radoš and Vilim Herman, joined HNS, while the third, Željko Pavlic, resigned his party membership to become independent. [4]
In August 2005 the party was formally struck from the party register. [2]
The following is a summary of the party's results in legislative elections for the Croatian Parliament.
| Election | In coalition with | Votes won (coalition totals) | Percentage | Seats won | Change | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | SDP-IDS-LS | 560,593 | 22.60% | 3 / 151 |  | Opposition |
Parliamentary elections to elect all 151 members of the Croatian Parliament were held on November 23, 2003. They were the 5th parliamentary elections to take place since the first multi-party elections in 1990. Turnout was 61.7%. The result was a victory for the opposition Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ) which won a plurality of 66 seats, but fell short of the 76 needed to form a government. HDZ chairman Ivo Sanader was named the 8th Prime Minister of Croatia on 23 December 2003, after parliament passed a confidence motion in his government cabinet, with 88 Members of Parliament voting in favor, 29 against and 14 abstaining. The ruling coalition, consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Croatian People's Party (HNS), Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and the Liberal Party (LS) did not contest the elections as a single bloc. Namely, the SDP ran with the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and the Liberal Party (LS), HNS ran with the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar (PGS) and the Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party (SBHS), while HSS ran on its own.
Ivica Račan was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia is a social-democratic political party and the largest party of the Croatian centre-left. The SDP is one of the two major political parties in Croatia, along with the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
The Liberal Party was a Croatian social-liberal political party active between January 1998 and April 2006. During its existence the party ran in two general elections and in each election won two seats in the 151-seat Sabor. LS was a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Its last leader was Zlatko Benašić.
The Croatian Party of Pensioners is a Croatian centre-left political party that is currently led by Silvano Hrelja.
The Croatian Peasant Party is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on December 22, 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that the realization of Croatian statehood was possible within Austria-Hungary, but that it had to be reformed as a Monarchy divided into three equal parts – Austria, Hungary, Croatia. After the creation of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, Party requested for the Croatian part of the Kingdom to be based on self-determination. This brought them great public support which columned in 1920 parliamentary election when HPSS won all 58 seats assigned to Croatia.
The Croatian Social Liberal Party is a conservative-liberal political party in Croatia. The HSLS was formed in 1989 as the first Croatian political party formed after the reintroduction of multi-party system.
The Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats is a social-liberal political party in Croatia.
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Croatia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
Dražen Budiša is a retired Croatian politician who used to be leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate. As leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party through the 1990s he remains to date the only Leader of the Opposition not to have been from either the Croatian Democratic Union or the Social Democratic Party.
Parliamentary elections for the Chamber of Representatives of the Croatian Parliament were held on 3 January 2000. These were the first elections to be held after the expiration of a full 4-year term of the previous Chamber of Representatives.
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 25 November 2007 and for overseas voters on 24 and 25 November. The campaign officially started on 3 November. The President of Croatia announced elections on 17 October and 14 days were allowed for candidate lists to be submitted.
Jozo Radoš is a Croatian liberal politician currently serving as one out of 11 Croatian members of the European Parliament. He previously served as a Minister of Defence, member of the Croatian Parliament and as an observer in the European Parliament for Croatia.
Goran Granić is a former Croatian centre-left politician who was the deputy prime minister from 2000 to 2002.
The Seventh Government of the Republic of Croatia was the first of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivica Račan. It was appointed on 27 January 2000 by a decree of the Acting President of the Republic and Speaker of Parliament, Vlatko Pavletić. The cabinet was confirmed by a parliamentary vote of confidence in the Chamber of Representatives on 2 February 2000, with 122 of 151 Members of Parliament voting for, 1 against and 1 abstaining. Its term ended on 30 July 2002, when it was reconstructed and replaced by Cabinet of Ivica Račan II. The cabinet was formed following the 2000 parliamentary elections, in which the centre-right party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was defeated by a broad coalition of several centre-left parties. This marked an end to HDZ's dominance in Croatian politics since the first multi-party election in 1990. However, the period under Prime Minister Račan was marred with constant disagreements among coalition members, which later led to some parties leaving the ruling coalition. This ultimately paved the way for HDZ's return to power in the 2003 parliamentary elections.
The Eight Government of the Republic of Croatia was the second of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivica Račan. It was announced on 30 July 2002 and its term ended on 23 December 2003. Račan's second cabinet was formed after Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) had decided to leave the ruling six-party coalition. The cabinet was succeeded by Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I, following the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union's return to power in the 2003 parliamentary elections.
The Restart Coalition is a centre-left political alliance in Croatia. The coalition was formed in 2010 as the Kukuriku Coalition. This somewhat facetious name meaning 'cock-a-doodle-doo', taken from a restaurant of the same name in Kastav where the coalition leaders first convened in July 2009, became well known and was eventually taken as the coalition's official name. The coalition originally consisted of four centrist and centre-left parties in the Croatian Parliament: the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS-LD), Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU) and Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS). The coalition won an absolute majority of seats in the 2011 parliamentary election and successfully formed a government led by Zoran Milanović (SDP).
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 8 November 2015. All 151 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the first multi-party election in 1990 and the first since Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. The ruling center-left Croatia is Growing coalition, led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, was challenged by the center-right Patriotic Coalition led by the HDZ and headed by its party chairman Tomislav Karamarko, and also faced several new political coalitions.
The Croatian Left has consisted of a broad range of individuals, groups, and political parties who seek egalitarian, economic, social and cultural rights in Croatia. Left wing ideologies came to Croatia in the late 19th century during the Austria-Hungary regime. In 1894, the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia was formed. It was the first workers party in Croatia at the time. In the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes the leftist movement grew but it was suppressed by the royal government. In 1920, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was proclaimed illegal and its sympathizers were brutally persecuted after winning a large number of positions in the local elections. During the 1920s, Stjepan Radić and his Croatian Peasant Party led a centre-left agrarianism and anty-royalist policy. They were the leading Croatian political party at the time. After the assassination of Radić in 1929, the Croatian Peasant Party was taken over by Vlatko Maček who enforced a more conservative and nationalist rhetoric. During the Socialist Yugoslavia era, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was the only legal party in the country. In 1990, political plurality was restored and a number of left-wing parties emerged with the most notable one being the Social Democratic Party of Croatia.