List of female county prefects in Croatia

As of 3 February 2021, nine women have served a prefects (Croatian: župan) of some of Croatia's 20 counties (Croatian: županija) or as Mayors of the City of Zagreb (which had a status equivalent to a county).

Currently there is one serving female county prefects or Mayor of Zagreb: Martina Furdek Hajdin, who has been acting prefect of Karlovac County since 2020. The last woman to hold office as a county prefect before Furdek Hajdin's accession (albeit also in an acting capacity) was Sanja Bošnjak, who retired as the acting prefect of Virovitica-Podravina County on 26 May 2017.

The first woman in Croatia to hold the office of a county prefect was Marina Matulović-Dropulić, who was appointed Mayor of Zagreb (and thus prefect of Zagreb County - which was merged with the City from 1995 until 1997) by Croatian President Franjo Tuđman on 2 March 1996. She held office for a little under two months before the Zagreb Assembly was dissolved and an early election called. Matulović-Dropulić returned as mayor in June 1997 and held office until 2000.

Demographics

As of 3 February 2021, a total of seven counties and the City of Zagreb have had a female prefect (or mayor). Of those counties (or county-equivalent administrative units), Virovitica-Podravina County and Karlovac County are the ones which have only had a female acting prefect. Namely, in Virovitica-Podravina County Sanja Bošnjak served out the remainder of the term of the previous prefect, Tomislav Tolušić, who left office after being appointed a government minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. Meanwhile, in Karlovac County Martina Furdek Hajdin is currently serving out the remainder of the term of the previous prefect, Damir Jelić, who had resigned for health reasons.

Krapina-Zagorje County and the City of Zagreb are the only two counties (or county-equivalent administrative units) to have had more than one female prefect (or mayor).

Marina Matulović-Dropulić is the only person of either gender in Croatia to have held the prefectship of more than one county or county-equivalent administrative unit. Namely, when she was appointed to her first term as Mayor of the City of Zagreb in 1996, the City was administratively merged with the surrounding Zagreb County into a single unit, and the Mayor of the City also became the Prefect of Zagreb County. Furthermore, when she took office for her second term as mayor in 1997, the City was again a separate administrative unit with county-level status in its own right.

On one occasion, a record three (Krapina-Zagorje, Sisak-Moslavina and Dubrovnik-Neretva Counties) out of Croatia's 21 counties and county-equivalent administrative units simultaneously had female prefects: between 23 May 2006, when Mira Buconić took office as Dubrovnik-Neretva County's first female prefect, and 5 June 2009, when she left office as prefect.

As of 3 February 2021, a total of 13 Croatian counties (out of 20 and the City of Zagreb) have never had a female prefect or acting prefect. Those counties are: Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Brod-Posavina County, Istria County, Koprivnica-Križevci County, Lika-Senj County, Međimurje County, Požega-Slavonia County, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Šibenik-Knin County, Split-Dalmatia County, Varaždin County, Vukovar-Srijem County and Zadar County.

List of female county prefects

#	Picture	Name (Lifespan)	County	Term start	Term end	Party	Notes	Departure	Ref
1		Marina Matulović-Dropulić (1st term) (1942-)	Zagreb County (as Mayor of the City of Zagreb)	March 2, 1996	April 30, 1996	Croatian Democratic Union	First, and to date only, female prefect of Zagreb County. First female Mayor of Zagreb (then merged with Zagreb County). First female county prefect in Croatia. Appointed by President Tuđman during the Zagreb Crisis.	City assembly dissolved.	[1]
		Marina Matulović-Dropulić (2nd term) (1942-)	City of Zagreb	June 5, 1997	March 14, 2000	Croatian Democratic Union	Previously briefly served as mayor in 1996, during the Zagreb Crisis. From 15 February 1997 the City of Zagreb was again a separate unit from Zagreb County.	Retired.	[2]
2		Anica Horvat (1936-)	Osijek-Baranja	September 27, 1997	July 9, 1998	Independent	First, and to date, only female prefect of Osijek-Baranja County.	Resigned.	[3]
3		Vlasta Hubicki (1953-)	Krapina-Zagorje	July 24, 2001	July 13, 2007	Croatian Peasant Party	First female prefect of Krapina-Zagorje County. First, and to date, only female prefect in Croatia and in Krapina-Zagorje County to be succeeded in office by another woman, Sonja Borovčak.	Retired.	[4]
4		Vlasta Pavić (1957-)	City of Zagreb	March 1, 2002	May 15, 2005	Social Democratic Party	Second female Mayor of Zagreb.	Retired.	[5]
5		Marina Lovrić Merzel (1963-)	Sisak-Moslavina	June 20, 2005	April 4, 2014	Social Democratic Party	First, and to date, only female prefect of Sisak-Moslavina County.	Resigned.	[6]
6		Mira Buconić (1943-)	Dubrovnik-Neretva	May 23, 2006	June 5, 2009	Independent List of Stipe Gabrić ’’Jambo’’	First, and to date, only female prefect of Dubrovnik-Neretva County.	Lost re-election bid.	[7]
7		Sonja Borovčak (1947-)	Krapina-Zagorje	July 13, 2007	June 8, 2009	Social Democratic Party	Second female prefect of Krapina-Zagorje County. First female prefect in Croatia and in Krapina-Zagorje County to succeed another woman in office.	Retired.	[8]
		Sonja Borovčak Acting prefect (1947-)	Krapina-Zagorje	April 18, 2012	June 3, 2013	Social Democratic Party	Previously served as prefect from 2007 until 2009.	Retired.	[9]
8		Sanja Bošnjak Acting prefect (1968-)	Virovitica-Podravina	January 22, 2016	May 26, 2017	Croatian Democratic Union	First, and to date, only woman to act as prefect of Virovitica-Podravina County.	Retired.	[10]
9		Martina Furdek Hajdin Acting prefect (1972-)	Karlovac	August 31, 2020	Incumbent	Croatian Democratic Union	First, and to date, only woman to act as prefect of Karlovac County.		[11]

Time in office

Rank	County Prefect or Mayor of Zagreb	Time in office
1	Marina Lovrić Merzel	8 years, 288 days
2	Vlasta Hubicki	5 years, 354 days
3	Marina Matulović-Dropulić	3 years, 342 days
4	Vlasta Pavić	3 years, 75 days
5	Sonja Borovčak	3 years, 11 days
6	Mira Buconić	2 years, 347 days
7	Sanja Bošnjak (Acting)	1 year, 124 days
8	Anica Horvat	0 years, 285 days
9	Martina Furdek Hajdin	156 days (Serving)

References

1. Šašić, Miroslav. "Feljton: Zagrebački gradonačelnici V. dio". radio.hrt.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
2. "Odluka o potvrđivanju izbora Marine Matulović Dropulić za gradonačelnicu Grada Zagreba". Narodne novine d.d. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
3. "Emisija 21.04.2014". radio.hrt.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
4. Kovačić, Ivan. "HDZ nije uspio, Vlasta Hubicki županica". Zagorje.com. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
5. Kovačević, Romana. "Vlasta Pavić nova je zagrebačka gradonačelnica". vecernji.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
6. "Nova sisačko-moslavačka županica Marina Lovrić". sdp.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
7. "Mira Buconić - nova dubrovačko-neretvanska županica". Index.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
8. "Sonja Borovčak nova zagorska županica". sdp.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
9. "Sonja Borovčak nova županica Krapinsko-zagorske županije". arhiva.nacional.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
10. "Sanja Bošnjak je obnašateljica dužnosti župana Virovitičko-podravske županije". vpz.hr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
11. Radočaj, Anamarija. "Damir Jelić podnio ostavku na mjesto župana Karlovačke županije". Karlovački.hr. Retrieved 24 October 2020.