Social Democratic Party of Croatia

Social Democratic Party of Croatia Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske
President	Zoran Milanović
Vice-presidents	Zlatko Komadina Milanka Opačić
Founder	Ivica Račan
Founded	3 November 1990 (1990-11-03)
Preceded by	League of Communists of Croatia (1937–1990)
Headquarters	Zagreb, Croatia
Membership	c. 35,000
Ideology	Social democracy, Democratic socialism, Pro-Europeanism, Third Way
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Kukuriku coalition
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists (Associate)
International affiliation	Socialist International
Colors	Red
Sabor	53 / 153
Party flag
File:Flag of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia.png
Website
www.sdp.hr
Politics of Croatia Political parties Elections

Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Croatian: Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske), commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska partija or SDP for short), is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia. In the most recent 2007 election SDP won 53 out of 153 seats in the Parliament of Croatia and is the biggest opposition party in the country.

History

1990s

Zoran Milanović

The party evolved from the League of Communists of Croatia (Croatian: Savez komunista Hrvatske, SKH). Its delegation left the 14th congress of the Communist Parties of Yugoslavia together with the Slovenians due to an inability to co-operate with the Serbian Communist Party led by Slobodan Milošević. Yugoslavia ceased to be a socialist state shortly thereafter, and so the party added Party of Democratic Reform (Croatian: Stranka demokratskih promjena, SDP) to its name. In 1990 The SKH-SDP participated in the multi-party elections of April 1990. The SKH-SDP lost those elections but remained in parliamentary opposition.

At the Croatian parliamentary election, 1992, the SDP won 5.52% of the popular vote and a total of 11 seats in the Parliament.

In early 1994, a group of prominent members including Ivan Šiber, Stjepan Ivanišević, Ivo Družić, Vjeran Zuppa, Ivan Matija and Ivo Josipović left the party after expressing some dissent to the party main committee. On 30 April 1994, the SDP merged with the Social Democrats of Croatia (SDH), led by Antun Vujić, to form the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (conveniently abbreviated to "SDP"). Ivica Račan remained the party's president.

At the Croatian parliamentary election, 1995, SDP won 8.93% of the popular vote and a total of 10 seats in the Parliament.

Merger with SDSH

In 1990, a parallel Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Croatian: Socijaldemokratska stranka Hrvatske, SDSH) was founded. It was later renamed to the Social Democrats of Croatia (Croatian: Socijaldemokrati Hrvatske, SDH). Like most parties created at the time, it was opposed to Communist government and wanted Croatia to secede from Yugoslavia, yet it had the distinction of being one of the few to present itself as left-wing. The party founders included many prominent intellectuals, including Miroslav Tuđman, who was at the time opposed to his father and future president Franjo Tuđman.

This party claimed that it was continuing tradition of the historical Social Democratic Party of Croatia, created in 1894 and merged in 1919 into the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.

In the first parliamentary elections in 1990, SDSH joined the moderate Coalition of People's Accord and fared badly, winning only a handful of seats. However, its position was strong enough to warrant ministerial post in the national unity government of Franjo Gregurić in 1991. The party lost that post when its prominent member Zvonko Lerotić defected to the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Before the 1992 parliamentary and presidential elections, SDSH was involved in bitter dispute with the SDP over its rebranding into the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. SDSH claimed that its name was stolen. The election showed SDP to be much stronger party than SDSH, which failed to enter the Parliament of Croatia. At the same time, SDSH leader Antun Vujić finished last in the presidential race. This ultimately led to SDSH and SDP patching their differences and former being incorporated into the latter in 1994.

2000-2003 government

Prime Minister Ivica Račan

The party formed a pre-election coalition with the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and proceeded to win the January 2000 parliamentary elections. Račan, as the leader of the strongest party, became the Prime Minister of Croatia. The coalition government included ministers from SDP and HSLS, plus the coalition of Croatian Peasant Party, the Liberal Party, Croatian People's Party, and the Istrian Democratic Assembly.

The SDP-led government, though with several changes, remained in power until the next elections in November 2003. They formed pre-election coalitions with Libra (a dissenting faction of HSLS) and the Liberal Party, but failed to secure a new parliamentary majority, even with the extended coalition of 2000. The SDP won 34 out of 151 seats.

Opposition since 2004

Ivo Josipović, current President of Croatia

In the Croatian presidential election, 2005 SDP supported Stjepan Mesić, who won the elections and became president.

For the 2007 elections, SDP prepeared an economic strategy by previously non-partisan economist Ljubo Jurčić. In 2007, the party was hit by the death of Ivica Račan, and had to elect a new party leader on a special convention. Zoran Milanović won, beating acting chairwoman Željka Antunović, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić and former foreign minister Tonino Picula.

During the electoral campaign, the party's Prime Ministerial candidate Ljubo Jurčić was substituted in a hurry by the new party president Zoran Milanović, who was at the time believed to be more popular and better accepted by possible coalition partners. However, this did not produce the desired effect for the SDP, as they finished a close second, behind the HDZ. It might have won the domestic election, but as SDP doesn't participate in diaspora elections, it lost in the overall tally. It failed to assemble a governing coalition, though it positioned itself as the largest opposition party.

In the subsequent Croatian local elections of June 2009, the party made no significant wins in the županije, but managed to gain some majors in important Croatian cities, due to the new electoral system where mayors and county heads are elected individually (even if representatives of parties).

In preparation for the Croatian presidential election, 2009–2010, the SDP held an internal election for the first time, in which party members selected between Ljubo Jurčić and Ivo Josipović as presidential candidate. Josipović won by some two thirds of the vote, and thereafter won the presidential elections, officially becoming the President of Croatia on 18 February 2010.

In 2010 the SDP formed a political alliance known as the Kukuriku coalition (initially known as the Alliance for Change) with the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, Istrian Democratic Assembly and the Croatian Party of Pensioners, with the aim of contesting the 2011 Croatian parliamentary election together.

Organisation

The party's first and longest-serving president was Ivica Račan. The current president is Zoran Milanović, elected on 2 June 2007 following Račan's death. The party is governed by the Statute (Statut). The current version was ratified at the 9th party convention held on May 8 2004.

The main bodies of the party are:

• President, deputy president, vice-presidents, secretary
• the head committee (Croatian: Glavni odbor)
• the executive committee (Izvršni odbor)
• the supervisory committee (Nadzorni odbor)

In addition to these, the party is composed of local branches. There are also three topical groups:

• youth forum
• women's forum
• seniors' forum

Standing

The Social Democratic Party tends to win more votes in the urban areas and among the more 'up-tight' population. It is seen as the primary alternative to the long-ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

External links

• Official website Template:Hr icon