Croatian parliamentary election, 1990
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First free multi-party elections for Croatian Parliament were held between April 22 and May 7, 1990.
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[edit] Background
The elections were called by the Communist government of Croatia after constitutional amendments allowing multi-party elections had been passed earlier in the year. The form of parliament that was about to be elected remained unchanged from 1974 Constitution - the House of Municipalities, House of Socio-Political Organisations and the House of Associated Labour. The latter represented "working people" of various professions and because of that special elections were held on Monday, allowing voters to cast their ballots at their respective workplaces.
The new electoral law, devised by Smiljko Sokol and modelled on French electoral legislation, introduced a runoff voting system. A candidate getting more than 50% would win the first round outright but failing that, all candidates winning at least 7% of the votes could enter the second round.
Elections for Parliament were also held in conjunction with elections for municipal assemblies (with an identical runoff voting system).
[edit] Campaign
At the very start of the campaign three major blocs emerged:
- The first one was dominated by former Croatian Communist Party, rebranded as the Party for Democratic Change (which has the initials SDP in Croatian) and led by Ivica Račan.
- The second was Coalition of People's Accord, very broad coalition of small parties representing anti-Communists and nationalists gathered around Croatian Spring leaders Savka Dabčević-Kučar and Miko Tripalo.
- The third group was dominated by more radical Croatian nationalists and led by Franjo Tuđman and his Croatian Democratic Union party (which has the initials HDZ in Croatian).
Some sections of Croatia that would later become Republic of Serbian Krajina also saw emergence of Serb Democratic Party.
The electoral law and superior organisational abilities of HDZ founders gradually narrowed the contest down to only two options - SDP and HDZ. The former tried to win by describing the latter as dangerous nationalist extremists and relying on votes of ethnic Serbs. The latter very skillfully used both decades of Croatian dissatisfaction with Communism and Yugoslavia and fear of emerging Serb nationalism embodied by Slobodan Milošević.
The campaign got very heated, but was surprisingly non-violent, except in ethnically mixed areas where the first incidents (which in retrospect can be seen as the harbingers of the full-scale warfare of a year later) took place. One of such incidents happened in city of Benkovac, where a lone Serb nationalist attacked Franjo Tuđman during election rally.
[edit] Results
First results of elections for two houses of Parliament were announced in the evening of April 22. Although HDZ failed to win outright majority in the first round, the number of seats won and percentage of votes made it clear the SDP was going to lose power to the HDZ and that it was likely that the HDZ would become the governing party for some time to come. This triggered a mass defection of government officials to the HDZ.
Yet, despite this historic setback, there was relatively little change in actual percentage of votes in second round - held on May 6 and 7th - mostly because Coalition of People's Accord candidates who had qualified refused to quit the race. This allowed SDP to win some constituencies, especially in urban, middle-class and ethnic Serb areas.
The final outcome was indisputably clear. HDZ won almost two thirds of the seats and clear mandate to push any legislative and constitutional agenda. SDP became the second largest party in Parliament. The minuscule remainder of the seats was shared by the Coalition of People's Accord, the Serb Democratic Party and a few independent candidates.
[edit] Result table
| Election 1990 | ||
| SocialPolitical Council | ||
| Party | share, first round | share, second round |
| Croatian Democratic Union | 40.07% | 40.79% |
| Croatian Democratic Union backed joint candidates | 0.34% | 1.60% |
| Party for Democratic Change | 22.63% | 26.61% |
| Party for Democratic Change backed joint candidates | 4.89% | 7.25% |
| Coalition of People's Accord | 10.55% | 9.56% |
| SS-SSH | 6.23% | 3.31% |
| HDS | 3.80% | 4.08% |
| SDS | 1.55% | 2.00% |
| Turnout | 84.54% | 74.82% |
Source for results: Hrvatska u Izborima '90 (Croatia in the Election of '90): I. Grdesić, M. Kasapović, I. Šiber, N. Zakošek
[edit] Legacy
The newly elected Parliament convened on May 30, 1990 and anniversary of that event would be later celebrated as Statehood Day - public holiday in Croatia.
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