ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - Thirteen years ago Croatians had the first multiparty elections in recent history. On 22 April in 1990, eligible voters went to polls to elect 351 parliamentary deputies.
ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - Thirteen years ago Croatians had the first
multiparty elections in recent history. On 22 April in 1990,
eligible voters went to polls to elect 351 parliamentary deputies.
#L#
Those first multiparty elections were organised in two rounds --
the first was on 22 April and the second on 6 May 1990 -- and was with
the first-past-the-post system.
A total of 1,705 candidates, 33 political parties and 16 various
associations ran in the election for 351 seats of the then Sabor.
The winner was the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) mustering 58
percent of votes, or 205 seats. It was followed by the then the
Association of the Communists of Croatia (SKH) - the Party of
Democratic Changes (which is now the SDP) with 69 seats.
The first multiparty parliament was constituted on 30 May on the
basis of the results of the ballot. At the time Croatia was still a
part of the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This
composition of the Croatian parliament adopted a decision on
severing all constitutional and state connections with that
Yugoslav federation in October 1991.
In the following 10 years since the first multiparty ballot the HDZ
was the ruling party. It lost the fourth election for the House of
Representatives, held on 3 January 2000 with the pure proportional
representation system for the first time. This vote was won by the
coalition of the SDP and the Croatian Social Liberal Party (71
seats), while the HDZ gained 46 seats. Four parties which made up
the other coalition - the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Liberal
Party (LS), the Croatian People's Party (HNS) and the Istrian
Democratic Party (IDS) - won 24 seats. After that the country got
the coalition government with six ruling parties (SDP, HSLS, HSS,
HNS, IDS and LS).
In the past 13 years Croatian Sabor underwent several changes being
transformed from a bicameral into unicameral parliament with the
number of seats dropping from 351 to 151 at the last parliamentary
election.
The next vote, which is likely to be held this autumn or next spring,
will be organised under the same electoral law which was applied to
the previous ballot. This will be the first time for Croatian voters
to elect their deputies under the same law being applied at two
consecutive elections. The existent law on elections has recently
been changed only in some technical aspects without any radical
amendments.
(hina) ms