1995 Croatian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 29 October 1995 to elect the 127 members of the Chamber of Representatives.[1] The result was a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 75 seats, an absolute majority. Therefore, this was the last election to date in which a single party won enough seats to govern alone, without the need for parliamentary support from pre-election or post-election coalition partners. Voter turnout was 68.8%.[2]

1995 Croatian parliamentary election

29 October 1995
All 127 seats to Chamber of Representatives 64 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	68.8%
Leader Franjo Tuđman Zlatko Tomčić Party HDZ HSS Last election 85 seats 13 seats (HSS, IDS, HNS) Seats won 75 / 127 18 / 127 Seat change 10 5 Popular vote 1,093,403 441,390 Percentage 45.2% 18.3%   Leader Dražen Budiša Ivica Račan Party HSLS SDP Last election 14 seats 11 seats Seats won 12 / 127 10 / 127 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 279,245 215,839 Percentage 11.6% 8.9%
Prime Minister before election Nikica Valentić HDZ Subsequent Prime Minister Zlatko Mateša HDZ

Background

The term of the existing Chamber of Representatives was to expire one year later, in 1996. However, Croatian government of Franjo Tuđman and his Croatian Democratic Union party hoped to exploit national euphoria over the success of Operation Storm.[3] Chamber of Representatives was quickly dissolved, but not before passing yet another piece of electoral legislation, introducing new voting system which was to improve chances of ruling party.

According to the new electoral law, 32 seats were won in individual constituencies on First past the post basis, while 80 seats were to be distributed on the basis of proportional representation, with the threshold being raised from previous 2% to 5%.

Another addition was raised threshold for lists of party coalitions - 8% for coalition of two parties and 11% for coalition of three and more parties. It is more than obvious that the new rules were introduced to discourage coalitions of small opposition parties and subsequently have their votes dispersed and wasted below the threshold, allowing stronger party to get additional seats.

While 12 seats were kept for Croatian expatriates, number of seats reserved for ethnic minorities have changed. This was most evident in case of Serbs, who had only 3 seats compared with previous 11.

Under such conditions, Croatian opposition parties were more concerned about their own political survival than actually challenging ruling party. Learning from their mistakes during 1992 elections, they created ad hoc coalitions and circumvented electoral thresholds by fielding other parties' members as their own candidates on the lists.

In the end, HDZ won roughly the same percentage of votes and same number of seats as three years earlier. More significant changes were among the ranks of Croatian opposition. Social Democratic Party of Croatia re-emerged as significant political factor with 8.93% votes, at the expense of Croatian Social Liberal Party which had its share of votes nearly halved. Both parties, however, were not as successful as large opposition coalition which included Croatian Peasant Party, Croatian People's Party and Istrian Democratic Assembly.

The most tense moment of the campaign occurred during the vote count. It appeared that Croatian Party of Rights would fail to break 5% threshold, only for the vote to mysteriously increase afterwards.

The election was held in conjunction with special elections for Zagreb City Assembly, which resulted with Zagreb Crisis.

Results

Party	PR			Constituency			Diaspora			Total seats	+/–
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Croatian Democratic Union	1,093,403	45.23	42			21			12	75	–10
HSS-IDS-HNS-HKDU-SBHS^[a]	441,390	18.26	16			2			0	18	+5
Croatian Social Liberal Party	279,245	11.55	10			2			0	12	–2
Social Democratic Party	215,839	8.93	8			2			0	10	–1
Croatian Party of Rights	121,095	5.01	4			0			0	4	–1
Social Democratic Union	78,282	3.24	0			0			0	0	0
Croatian Independent Democrats	72,612	3.00	0			1			0	1	+1
Social Democratic Action of Croatia	40,348	1.57	0			1			0	1	+1
Croatian Party of Rights 1861	31,530	1.30	0			0			0	0	0
Croatian Christian Democratic Party	16,986	0.70	0			0			0	0	0
Serb People's Party			0			2			0	2	–1
Other parties	26,644	1.10	0			0			0	0	0
Independents	–	–	0			4			0	4	–1
Invalid/blank votes	82,666	–	–		–	–		–	–	–	–
Total	2,500,040	100	80			35			12	127	–11
Sources: Nohlen & Stöver, IDS-DDI web site, HIDRA 1995 election statistics, Ilišin, Vlasta (September 1999). "Strukturna dinamika hrvatskog parlamenta" [Structural dynamics of the Croatian Parliament]. Politička misao: Croatian Political Science Review (in Croatian). Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. 36 (3): 151–174. ISSN 0032-3241. Retrieved 2011-11-13. "Broj i postotak stranačkih zastupnika u Hrvatskome saboru od 1992. do 2001. godine". Parlamentarne stranke (in Croatian). Croatian Information-Documentation Referral Agency. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-13.

^a Within the alliance, the Croatian Peasant Party won 10 seats (+7), the Istrian Democratic Assembly won 4 (+1), the Croatian People's Party won 2 (–4), the Croatian Christian Democratic Union won 1 (+1) and the Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party won 1 (+1).

Popular vote HDZ   45.23% HSS-IDS-HNS-HKDU-SBHS   18.26% HSLS   11.55% SDP   8.93% HSP   5.01% SDU   3.24% HND   3.00% SDAH   1.57% HSP1861   1.30% Others   1.91%

Subsequent changes

The following changes happened after elections:

• The Croatian Pure Party of Rights gained one member of parliament
• The Croatian Christian Democratic Union gained one more member of parliament
• The Serb People's Party lost one member of parliament
• The Independent Democratic Serb Party gained one member of parliament
• The Liberal Party gained four members of parliament
• The Istrian Democratic Forum gained one member of parliament
• The Croatian Independent Democrats lost one member of parliament
• Social Democratic Action of Croatia lost one member of parliament

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p410 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p415
3. http://www.jutarnji.hr/davor-butkovic--prva-hrvatska-vlada-koja-bi-mogla-pasti/895339/

External links

• Rezultati izbora zastupnika za Zastupnički dom Sabora Republike Hrvatske (29.10.1995.) (in Croatian)