Croatian Democratic Union
Hrvatska demokratska zajednica |
|
---|---|
President | Andrej Plenković |
Secretary | Gordan Jandroković |
Founder | Franjo Tuđman |
Founded | 17 June 1989 |
Headquarters | Zagreb, Croatia |
Youth wing | Youth of the Croatian Democratic Union |
Membership (2013) | 208,277 |
Ideology |
Conservatism Croatian nationalism Christian democracy Pro-Europeanism |
Political position |
Centre-right to Right-wing |
European affiliation | European People's Party |
International affiliation |
Centrist Democrat International, International Democrat Union |
European Parliament group | European People's Party |
Colours | Blue |
Sabor |
57 / 151
|
European Parliament |
4 / 11
|
County Prefects |
11 / 21
|
Mayors |
60 / 128
|
Website | |
www |
|
The Croatian Democratic Union (Croatian: Hrvatska demokratska zajednica or HDZ) is the main conservative political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croatia, along with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). It is currently the largest party in the Sabor with 49 seats. The HDZ ruled Croatia from 1990 after the country gained independence from Yugoslavia until 2000 and, in coalition with junior partners, from 2003 to 2011 as well as since 2016. HDZ began as an ultra nationalist party having been the winner of the 1990 parliamentary elections and coming to power adopted neofascist policies in order to undercut the appeal of its extreme nationalist and neofascist rivals. As party started losing support after War in Croatia ended in 1995, the year 2000, the year following the first president of independent Croatia Franjo Tuđman's death, saw the party defeated in both parliamentary and presidential elections. Since then HDZ gradually changed its position on the political spectrum to somewhere between a right-wing to a centre-right party. As of 2017[update] the party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP)
The HDZ was founded on 17 June 1989 by Croatian dissidents led by Franjo Tuđman. It was officially registered on 25 January 1990. The HDZ held its first convention on 24–25 February 1990, when Franjo Tuđman was elected its president. When the party was founded, the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia just introduced a multi-party system in Croatia and scheduled elections for the Croatian Parliament.