The founding convention opened with the playing of the Croatian national anthem and the International, and tribute was paid to members of the Partisan resistance movement killed in the Second World War, Marshal Josip Broz Tito and victims of "the recent fratricidal war".
"Present pro-Western and pro-democratic proponents of the opening of the Croatian market to Western imperialism are as dangerous as was Milosevic's totalitarian regime," Batak said.
He said that the newly-formed party supported President Stjepan Mesic's statement regarding the restitution of property confiscated from ethnic Austrians by communist authorities in Croatia in the wake of the Second World War.
"The KPH is not an ultra-left, but a modern party open to all citizens," Batak said.
Sanja Zec, of Rijeka, and Zeljko Hill, of Osijek, were elected vice-presidents of the party.