Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats
The
Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats (
Croatian Hrvatska narodna stranka - Liberalni Demokrati;
HNS) is a
liberal party in
Croatia.
HNS currently has 13 representatives in the
Croatian Parliament and are the third largest political party in Croatia.
The party is a member of
Liberal International and the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. The HNS is led by
Vesna Pusić.
The People's Party was originally formed in the
19th century during the period of Croatian
romantic nationalism. Because it was formed as part of the
Illyrian Movement which did not distinguish
Croats from other South Slavs and instead called them all
Illyrians, the party was named the Illyrian people's party (
Ilirska narodna stranka) when it was formed in late
1841. Some of its champions from this time included
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski,
Josip Juraj Strossmayer and
Ivan Mažuranić.
In
1861, the People's Party deputies in the Croatian Parliament went under the name People's Liberal Party (
Narodna liberalna stranka).
It remained a powerful party until
1905, when the People's Party joined the Croatian-Serbian Coalition (
Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija), together with the
Party of Rights, as well as the
Independents and the
Radicals. After
World War I, the Coalition ceased to exist and the People's Party was not reformed.
During
Communism in the
second Yugoslavia, the liberal leaders of the
Croatian Communist Party were
Savka Dabčević-Kučar and
Miko Tripalo, which participated in the
Croatian Spring of 1971.
The modern Croatian People's Party was formed in late
1990 by members of the
Coalition of People's Accord (
Koalicija narodnog sporazuma) which had participated on the
first multi-party election of 1990, led by Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Miko Tripalo and others.
The HNS remained a small opposition party. In the
1992 election they won 6.7% of the vote and attained 6 seats in the
Croatian Parliament. In the
1995 election they won no seats.
In the
2000 election they participated in the four-party coalition with
HSS,
LS and
IDS, which together won 25 seats in the
Parliament. Two of those 25 deputies were members of HNS.
Subsequently, the People's Party participated in the 2000-2003 government of
Ivica Račan through the minister of public works, construction and rebuilding,
Radimir Čačić, previously a president of the party.
At the
elections of November 2003, the alliance of the HNS with the
Alliance of Primorje - Gorski Kotar and the
Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party won 8.0 % of the popular vote and 11 out of 151 seats, 10 seats of them occupied by the HNS.
A second element of today's People's Party, the
Party of Liberal Democrats or Libra, originated in time of the Račan government when
Dražen Budiša, the leader of the
Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), pulled out of the coalition. Several members of Budiša's party refused to bring down the government and instead split from the HSLS, forming Libra.
On
February 6,
2005, most of the 1,250 representatives of HNS on its seventh convention voted to merge with the Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) as the
Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats. Libra had won 3 seats at the last elections, so the total number of seats for the party increased to 13.
*
Liberalism*
Contributions to liberal theory*
Liberalism worldwide*
List of liberal parties*
Liberal democracy*
Liberalism in Croatia*
Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats official site
