CROATIA
Parliamentary Chamber: Zastupnicki Dom

ELECTIONS HELD IN 2000

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Chamber:
  Zastupnicki Dom


Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):

  3 January 2000


Purpose of elections:

  Elections were held for all seats in the Zastupnicki Dom on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.


Background and outcome of elections:

  The elections were initially scheduled for 22 December 1999. However, after the Constitutional Court declared President Franco Tudjman temporarily unfit to exercise his duties, the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ), the ruling party, postponed them to 3 January 2000. The four-year term of the outgoing Parliament expired on 27 November 1999. Shortly after the decision of the Constitutional Court, President Tudjman passed away.

During the electoral campaign, the HDZ attempted to capitalise on the popularity of the late President. However, this proved insufficient to persuade the Croats to stick with the ruling party, which polled a scant 30.5% of the votes as against 47 per cent for the alliance of major opposition parties - the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Social Party (HSLS).

The second opposition bloc, composed of small, moderate nationalist parties on the centre right - Farmers' Party, Democratic Assembly of Istria, Liberal Party, Croat People's Party and Social Democratic Action - obtained nearly 16% of the votes, entitling it to 25 seats in the new Parliament.

Observers attribute this triumph by the opposition, which won 96 out of the 151 seats, to the country's difficult economic situation and the many corruption scandals implicating those close to the government. This result marks the end of a nine-year period of HDZ domination.

The international observers present felt that the voting took place democratically.

On 27 January, the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Ivica Racan, announced the composition of his new government featuring representatives of six parties.

STATISTICS
Round no 1 (3 January 2000): Elections results  
Number of registered electors 4 244 558
Voters 2 941 306 (69)%
Blank or invalid ballot papers 50 340
Valid votes 2 890 966

Round no 1: Distribution of votes  
Political Group Votes %
SDP - HSLS 1 138 318 39.25
Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) 784 192 27.04
HSS - IDS - LS - HNS - ASH 432 527 14.92
Representatives Croatian abroad 107 928 3.73
Representatives of minorities 21 342 0.73
HSP - HKDU 152 699 5.27

Round no 1: Distribution of seats  
Political Group Total
SDP - HSLS 71
Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) 40
HSS - IDS - LS - HNS - ASH 24
Representatives Croatian abroad 6
Representatives of minorities 5
HSP - HKDU 5

Comments:
  SDP - HSLS : Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) + Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) + 2 regionalist parties PGS and SBHS
HSS: Croatian Peasant Party
IDS: Istrian Democratic Assembly
LS: Liberal Party
HNS: Croatian Peple's Party
ASH: Croatian Social Democrats' Action
HSP: Croatian Right's Party
HKDU: Croatian Christian Democratic Union

Distribution of seats according to sex:  
Men: 121
Women: 30
Percent of women: 19.87 %

Distribution of seats according to age:  
Under 30 years 2
30 to 40 years 22
40 to 50 years 74
50 to 60 years 39
60 to 70 years 12
Over 70 years 2


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Copyright © 2000 Inter-Parliamentary Union