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Social Democratic Party of Croatia Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | SDP |
| President | Siniša Hajdaš Dončić |
| Vice Presidents | |
| Founder | Ivica Račan |
| Founded | 3 November 1990; 35 years ago (1990-11-03)[1] |
| Preceded by | League of Communists of Croatia (SKH) |
| Headquarters | Trg Drage Iblera 9,Zagreb |
| Youth wing | SDP Youth Forum |
| Membership(2020) | 32,000[2] |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| National affiliation | Rivers of Justice (since 2010) |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
| International affiliation | |
| Colors | Red |
| Slogan | "Sloboda. Jednakost. Solidarnost."[3] ("Freedom. Equality. Solidarity.") |
| Sabor | 37 / 151 |
| European Parliament | 4 / 12 |
| County Prefects | 3 / 21 |
| Mayors | 19 / 128 |
| Municipalities | 53 / 428 |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| sdp.hr | |
TheSocial Democratic Party of Croatia (Croatian:Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske,abbr.SDP) is asocial democratic[4][5] political party in Croatia. The SDP isanti-fascist,progressive,[6] and stronglypro-European.[4][7] The SDP was formed in 1990 as the successor of theLeague of Communists of Croatia, the Croatian branch of theLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia, which had governedCroatia within theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia sinceWorld War II.[8]
The party first won the elections in2000 and formed a coalition government headed byIvica Račan. After losing the2003 general election, the party remained in opposition for eight years. In the2011 parliamentary election, SDP won 61[a] out of 151 seats in theCroatian Parliament, and managed to form the12th Croatian Government underZoran Milanović with its partners from theKukuriku coalition. After SDP and its coalition partners failed to achieve an agreement on forming a new government following the2015 general election, the party returned to the opposition. Former[b] SDP member and presidential candidateIvo Josipović served as the thirdPresident of Croatia from 2010 to 2015. Another SDP member,Neven Mimica was theEuropean Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development at theJuncker Commission.
The SDP is a member of theParty of European Socialists (PES),Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D),Progressive Alliance (PA),[9] and theSocialist International (SI).
The SDP was established on 3 November 1990 by thesocial democratic faction of the formerLeague of Communists of Croatia (SKH), the Croatian branch of theLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ).[1]
If SDP is claimed successor ofAustria-Hungary'sSocial Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia founded on 8 and 9 September 1894, it was the oldest social democratic party in Yugoslavia, before becomeCommunist Party of Croatia as part ofLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia, founded date of modern day social-democratic party is taken on 3 November 1990.
SKH delegation led byIvica Račan, along with their Slovenian counterparts, had abandoned the 14th congress of SKJ in January 1990 following a dispute with the Serbian delegation led bySlobodan Milošević over howSFR Yugoslavia should be reorganized.
At the same time, Croatia was preparing for its first multi-party election following the decision made by SKH in December 1989 which envisioned elections in April and May 1990. In February 1990 theSR Croatia parliament adopted amendments to the constitution which enabled a multi-party system. That same month SKH had rebranded themselves as the "Party of Democratic Reform" (Stranka demokratskih promjena or SDP) and went on to run in the1990 election as SKH-SDP, coming in second behind theCroatian Democratic Union (HDZ) with 26 percent of votes and a total of 107 seats in all three houses of parliament which had 351 seat.
On 3 November 1990, the party was officially established in its current form,[1] by dropping theinitialism SKH from its name. In theAugust 1992 election, the first election held according to the newConstitution of Croatia which had been adopted on 22 December 1990, SDP won 5.52% of the popular vote and a total of 11 seats in the 138-seat parliament. In 1993 the party re-branded themselves again and changed their name to the "Social Democratic Party" (Socijaldemokratska partija), the name they kept to this day.
In 1990, a parallel Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Croatian:Socijaldemokratskastranka Hrvatske, SDSH) was founded. It was later renamed to the Social Democrats of Croatia (Socijaldemokrati Hrvatske, SDH). Like most parties created at the time, it was opposed to the communist government and wantedCroatia to secede fromYugoslavia, yet it had the distinction of being one of the few to present itself as left-wing. The party founders included many prominent intellectuals, includingAntun Vujić andMiroslav Tuđman.[10] This party claimed that it was continuing tradition of the historical Social Democratic Party of Croatia, created in 1894 and merged in 1919 into theCommunist Party of Yugoslavia.
In the first1990 Croatian parliamentary election, SDSH joined the centristCoalition of People's Accord and fared badly, winning only 21 out of 351 seats. However, its position was strong enough to warrant ministerial posts in the national unity government ofFranjo Gregurić which was in power from July 1991 to August 1992. However, its two ministers Bosiljko Mišetić and Zvonimir Baletić defected to the conservativeCroatian Democratic Union (HDZ) soon after their appointment.
Before the 1992 parliamentary and presidential elections, SDSH was involved in bitter dispute with the SDP over its rebranding into the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. SDSH claimed that its name was stolen. The election showed SDP to be much stronger party than SDSH, which failed to win parliament seats. At the same time, SDSH leaderAntun Vujić finished last in the1992 presidential race, winning a meagre 0.7 percent of the vote. This ultimately led to SDSH and SDP patching their differences and former being incorporated into the latter in April 1994.
In the following1995 election, SDP won 8.93 percent of the popular vote and a total of 10 seats in the parliament, coming in fourth behind theCroatian Democratic Union (HDZ),Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) and theCroatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS).
In August 1998, SDP andHSLS leadersIvica Račan andDražen Budiša signed a coalition agreement and proceeded to run together in theJanuary 2000 parliamentary elections.[11] The SDP-HSLS coalition won the election with 38.7% of the vote and 71 out of 151 seats.[12] SDP and HSLS then formed a six-way centre-left coalition government along with theCroatian Peasant Party (HSS), theLiberal Party (LS),Croatian People's Party (HNS), and theIstrian Democratic Assembly (IDS). Račan, as the leader of the strongest party, becameprime minister in thefirst Račan cabinet. This period was marred with constant disagreements among coalition members on various issues. The constitution was changed several times.[13][14][15][16]
Račan had initially offered the post ofSpeaker of Parliament to Budiša, but Budiša declined hoping to win the upcoming2000 presidential election. Following Budiša's defeat toStjepan Mesić in February 2000, Budiša continued to serve as member ofCroatian parliament. In July 2001, he opposed Račan government's decision to extraditeCroatian army generals which were wanted because of, later in 2013 dismissed, charges for committing war crimes duringCroatian War of Independence to theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) which caused considerable turmoil withinHSLS.
In June 2001, theIstrian regionalist partyIstrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) withdrew from the coalition government and its chairmanIvan Jakovčić resigned his post asMinister of European Integration, citing criticism of the way they governedIstria on the regional level which had been coming from other parties within the ruling coalition.[17] The uneasy coalition broke apart in early July 2002 when Račan formally handed in his resignation following HSLS refusal to support the agreement made withSlovenia concerning the two countries' joint control of theKrško Nuclear Power Plant.[18]
In late July 2002, thesecond Račan cabinet was formed, with members of the remaining four parties of the original coalition (following the departure ofIDS andHSLS) plus two minor liberal parties which had splintered from HSLS, theParty of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and theLiberal Party (LS). This cabinet remained in power until the nextelections in November 2003. SDP then ran in the 2003 election as part of a coalition with IDS, Libra and LS, but was defeated by the conservativeHDZ. The SDP thus returned to opposition with the coalition winning 43 out of 151 seats in the parliament (34 of which held by SDP).[19]
The January 2000 election win and the defeat of the ruling HDZ was seen as a turning point as it marked the first transition of power in Croatia's young democracy and upon coming into power Račan's government was seen as the country's first staunchly pro-Western government following a decade of the "authoritarian and nationalist rule" of late PresidentFranjo Tuđman.[20] During its term, the country signed a pre-membership agreement with the European Union, which paved the way for the formal opening of membership negotiations in October 2006.[20] Although the six-party coalition government made a clear break from the former regime, it nevertheless failed to handle the growing social problems, unemployment and economic difficulties. Račan struggled to contain factional disputes within the coalition and appeared indecisive in dealing with Western demands to hand over war crimes suspects to theICTY, as well as with extremists at home who vehemently opposed such extraditions.
In the2005 presidential race, SDP opted to support independent incumbent Stjepan Mesić, who succeeded in winning his second term by an overwhelming majority of 65.9% of the vote in the run-off in front ofHDZ candidate and runner-upJadranka Kosor with 34.1%.[21]
In 2007, the party was dealt a blow due to the death of their long-time leader and founderIvica Račan, who died on 30 April 2007 due to complications from his previously treatedkidney cancer, after he stepped down from his chairman post earlier that month.[20] In an extraordinary party convention, former party spokesmanZoran Milanović was elected as their new leader, beating acting chairwoman and former defence ministerŽeljka Antunović in the party election run-off.[22] Other prominent candidates for the post wereZagreb mayorMilan Bandić and former foreign ministerTonino Picula.[23]
For theNovember 2007 parliamentary election, SDP ran on an economic program withThird Way elements[24] devised by the previouslynon-partisan economistLjubo Jurčić, who was also picked to be the party's candidate for the post of prime minister in case of their election victory at a party meeting in July 2007.[25] In the election of 25 November SDP finished a close second behind HDZ, with 56 out of 153 seats. It might have won the domestic election, but as SDP does not participate indiaspora constituency, it lost in the overall tally. Five days after the election, amid speculations that SDP might assemble a governing coalition in spite of them failing to win outright majority, he was replaced in that role byZoran Milanović.[26] Nevertheless, SDP failed to assemble a governing coalition, and positioned itself as the largest opposition party instead.
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In the subsequentJune 2009 local elections, the party failed to make significant gains on thecounty level, but still managed to achieve some major wins in important cities, due to the adoption of a new election system where mayors and county heads were for the first time elected directly, as opposed to the previous system which employed party lists. SDP recorded mayoral victories in a number of traditionally centre-right leaning coastal cities such asDubrovnik,Šibenik andTrogir and also managed to win inVukovar, a city that had been almost destroyed in theCroatian War of Independence and was regarded as HDZ stronghold ever since. They also manage to retain control of the economically most powerful parts of the country, including the capitalZagreb, the northern Adriatic city ofRijeka and also won inIstria (in coalition with IDS).
In the run up to the2009–10 presidential race, SDP held aprimary election for the very first time, in which party nomineesLjubo Jurčić andIvo Josipović ran. Josipović won the primary by some two-thirds of the vote.[27] Josipović later won the 2009–10 election with 60% of the vote in the second round in front of former SDP member and populistMayor of ZagrebMilan Bandić (who was expelled that year for running in the elections) and was officially inaugurated on 18 February 2010.[28][29]
In 2010, SDP formed apolitical alliance known as theKukuriku coalition with three other centre-left parties – theCroatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS),Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) and theCroatian Party of Pensioners (HSU) – to run in theDecember 2011 parliamentary election. The coalition unveiled their 21-point campaign program on 15 September 2011 in Zagreb.[30]
The coalition won the election, winning 81 out of 151 seats in the parliament, after which SDP formed a government with two of its junior coalition (HNS andIDS). Party president,Zoran Milanović, took office as the new Prime Minister and leader ofhis cabinet on 23 December 2011.
The Milanović administration started its mandate by introducing several liberal reforms. During 2012, a Law onmedically assisted fertilization was enacted,health education was introduced in all elementary and high schools, and Milanović announced further expansion ofrights for same-sex couples.[31][32] On 1 December 2013, aconstitutional referendum was held in Croatia, organized by the citizen initiativeFor the family, creating a constitutional prohibition againstsame-sex marriage. SDP was one of the leading forces campaigning against the proposal. The referendum passed with 65% votes in favour. Milanović announced theLife Partnership Act which passed on 15 July 2014.[33][34][35][36][37]
The government's mandate was marked by several crises the cabinet had to deal with, includinga six-year economic recession,the 2013 anti-Cyrillic protests,war veterans protests, the 2015Croatia–Slovenia border disputes arbitration scandal and theEuropean migrant crisis.
A newfiscalization law and the government's pursuit of dealing with theswiss francs crisis are regarded as some of SDP's biggest successes in power.[38][39] In January 2015, the government decided to freeze exchange rates for Swiss francs for a year, after a rise in the franc that caused increasingly expensive loans for borrowers in that currency.[40] In August 2015, Milanović announced that Swiss franc loans will beconverted intoeuro-denominated ones.[41]
The administration adopted a number of reforms in taxation to cope with the difficult economic situation amid theGreat Recession. It also cut social insurance contributions and public-sector wages.[42][43] The government succeeded in reducing the budget deficit to 5.3% in 2012,[44] but GDP contracted by 2.2% andpublic debt reached 69.2%.[45][46] Milanović's time in office has been marked by several cuts to Croatia'scredit rating. The unemployment rate peaked in February 2014 at 22.7%.[47]
A bad economic situation weakened the originally strong public support for the Milanović government, which was demonstrated in the2013 local elections.[48] In the firstEuropean Parliament elections in Croatia in 2013, SDP won 32% of the votes and five MEPs, one less than HDZ, the largest opposition party. The following year SDP's coalition won 29.9% in the2014 European Parliament elections and four MEPs.[49] The party supported Ivo Josipović in thepresidential elections, which were won byKolinda Grabar-Kitarović from the HDZ. Josipović later formed his own party,Forward Croatia-Progressive Alliance, instead of returning to the SDP. He eventually rejoined the party in 2019.[50][51]
In the2015 parliamentary elections, SDP and its coalition partners won the majority in 5 out of 10 electoral districts, and eventually gained 56 out of 151 seats in the Parliament, or 59 sinceIstrian Democratic Assembly participated in the post-election negotiations on forming new government asde facto member of the coalition. After more than 70 days of negotiations with theBridge of Independent Lists (MOST) and numerous twists and turns mainly due to MOST frequently changing terms, SDP's coalition failed to achieve agreement with MOST on forming new government, which was formed by the independentTihomir Orešković who was supported by the center-rightPatriotic Coalition.
On 2 April 2016,elections were held for the party's leadership.Zlatko Komadina, theprefect ofPrimorje-Gorski Kotar County, who advocated for a "much more social democratic" SDP, ran against Milanović.[52] Milanović was again re-elected president of SDP for the next four years.[53]
A vote of no confidence in Orešković in June 2016 resulted in anearly parliamentary election in November which the SDP contested as the largest party in thePeople's Coalition. Despite being perceived as the favorite to win the election, due to a significant lead in a large number of opinion polls, the People's Coalition won only 54 seats while theCroatian Democratic Union won 58 (61 with coalition partners) in an upset. As a result,Zoran Milanović declared that he would not contest the upcoming leadership election in the SDP and that he would retire from politics once a successor is elected. The first round of the leadership election on 19 November 2016 failed to produce an outright winner, as none of the seven candidates gained the necessary majority of 50% + 1 of cast votes.Davor Bernardić received the most votes (46%) and progressed to the second round, where he faced the runner-up,Ranko Ostojić, who received 22.8% of cast votes. The second round took place on 26 November 2016 andDavor Bernardić was elected the 3rd chairman of the SDP with 64% of cast votes.
In the2020 parliamentary elections, the SDP achieved its worst result in parliamentary elections since the 1990s, resulting to the resignation ofDavor Bernardić the day after the election.Zlatko Komadina took over the temporary duty of party leader until the next internal party elections. Five candidates ran in theparty's leader elections, for which voting took place on 26 September and 3 October.Peđa Grbin was chosen as the new leader, who defeated Željko Kolar in the second round. The elections were also marked by allowing only members who had paid their membership fees to vote, which meant that 12,000 out of 32,000 of all members had the right to vote.[54][55][56]
In July 2021, intra-party clashes broke out between supporters of Grbin and Bernardić, followed by the expulsion of four MPs on charges of doing damage to party or refusing to actively participate in theMay local elections.[57] The same MPs then refused to leave the SDP parliamentary club, and for that they received the support of 14 of their colleagues who refused to vote for their expulsion.[58] The crisis was resolved at a session of the party's presidency when a decision was made to punish 14 supporters of ousted MPs. According to the decision, seven deputies were expelled, includingDavor Bernardić, while the remaining seven were warned.[59] In the end, the expelled MPs and those who supported them founded a new parliamentary club called the Social Democrats Club, which had 18 deputies, while the SDP club was left with the remaining 14 deputies, which put them in third place in terms of the number of deputies in theSabor. On 9 July 2022, they founded a new party named theSocial Democrats.[60]
The party's first and longest-serving president wasIvica Račan. The current party president isSiniša Hajdaš Dončić, who was elected in a leadership election on 21 September 2024 followingPeđa Grbin's resignation. Apart from the president and four vice-presidents (Biljana Borzan,Mirela Ahmetović,Ranko Ostojić,Mišel Jakšić), the main governing bodies of the party include the party presidency (Predsjedništvo, consisting of 18 elected members), the head committee (Glavni odbor) and the supervisory committee (Nadzorni odbor).
Like all other parties, the SDP runs local chapters atmunicipal, city andcounty levels. It also runs four topical groups – theYouth Forum (Forum mladih), Women's Forum (Socijaldemokratski forum žena), Seniors' Forum (Socijaldemokratski forum seniora) and the SDP Queer Forum.[61][62]
The SDP has been a member of theSocialist International since November 1999,[63] and a full member of theParty of European Socialists since February 2012.[64] SDP is also a full member of theProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in theEuropean Parliament as of theaccession of Croatia to the EU in 2013.
The following is a summary of SDP's results in legislative elections for theCroatian parliament. The "Votes won" and "Percentage" columns include sums of votes won by coalitions SDP had been part of. Afterpreferential votes were added to the electoral system, the votes column also includes the statistic of the total number of such votes received by candidates of SDP on coalition lists. The "Total seats won" column includes sums of seats won only by SDP in election. Column "Change" shows how many seats SDP has gained or lost.
| Election | In coalition with | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coalition | SDP | |||||
| 1990 | SSH | 1,001,967 | 35.0 (#2) | 107 / 351 |  107 | Opposition |
| 1992 | None | 145,419 | 5.5 (#3) | 11 / 138 |  96 | Opposition |
| 1995 | None | 215,839 | 8.9 (#4) | 10 / 127 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2000 | HSLS-PGS-SBHS | 1,138,318 | 38.7 (#1) | 43 / 151 | 33 | Government |
| 2003 | LIBRA–IDS-LS | 560,593 | 22.6 (#2) | 34 / 151 | 9 | Opposition |
| 2007 | None | 775,690 | 31.2 (#2) | 56 / 151 | 22 | Opposition |
| 2011 | HNS–IDS–HSU | 958,312 | 40.4 (#1) | 61 / 151 | 5 | Government |
| 2015 | HNS-HSU-HL-AHSS-ZS | 744,507 | 32.31 (#2) | 42 / 151 | 19 | Opposition |
| 2016 | HNS-HSU-HSS | 636,602 | 33.82 (#2) | 38 / 151 | 4 | Opposition |
| 2020 | HSS-GLAS-IDS-HSU-PGS-NLDB | 414,615 | 24.87 (#2) | 33 / 151 | 4 | Opposition |
| 2024 | CENTAR-HSS-GLAS-DO i SIP-NS-R | 538,748 | 25.40 (#2) | 37 / 151 | 3 | Opposition |
| Election | List leader | Coalition | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coalition | SDP | ||||||
| 2013 | Tonino Picula | HNS–HSU | 237,778 | 32,07 (#2) | 5 / 12 | New | S&D |
| 2014[c] | Neven Mimica | HNS–HSU-IDS-SDSS | 275,904 | 29,93 (#2) | 2 / 11 | 3 | |
| 2019 | Tonino Picula | None | 200,976 | 18,71 (#2) | 4 / 12 | 2 | |
| 2024 | Biljana Borzan | DO i SIP–CENTAR–HSS–GLAS | 192,859 | 25,62 (#2) | 4 / 12 |  0 | |
| Election year(s) | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| 1992 | Silvije Degen | 108,979 | 4.1 (#5) | Lost | ||
| 1997 | Zdravko Tomac | 458,172 | 21.03 (#2) | Lost | ||
| 2000 | Dražen Budiša | 741,837 | 27.8 (#2) | 1,125,969 | 43.99 (#2) | Lost |
| 2005 | Stjepan Mesić | 1,089,398 | 48.92 (#1) | 1,454,451 | 65.93 (#1) | Won |
| 2009–10 | Ivo Josipović | 640,594 | 32.42 (#1) | 1,339,385 | 60.26 (#1) | Won |
| 2014–15 | 687,678 | 38.46 (#1) | 1,082,436 | 49.26 (#2) | Lost | |
| 2019–20 | Zoran Milanović | 562,783 | 29.55 (#1) | 1,034,170 | 52.66 (#1) | Won |
| 2024–25 | 797,938 | 49.68 (#1) | 1,122,859 | 74.68 (#1) | Won | |
| No. | Leader | Age | Term start | Term end | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Ivica Račan | 1944–2007 | 3 November 1990 | 11 April 2007 | 16 years, 159 days |
| — |  | Željka Antunović (acting president) | b. 1955 | 11 April 2007 | 2 June 2007 | 52 days |
| 2 |  | Zoran Milanović | b. 1966 | 2 June 2007 | 26 November 2016 | 9 years, 177 days |
| 3 | .png) | Davor Bernardić | b. 1980 | 26 November 2016 | 6 July 2020 | 3 years, 223 days |
| — |  | Zlatko Komadina (acting president) | b. 1958 | 6 July 2020 | 3 October 2020 | 89 days |
| 4 | .jpg) | Peđa Grbin | b. 1979 | 3 October 2020 | 21 September 2024 | 3 years, 354 days |
| 5 | .jpg) | Siniša Hajdaš Dončić | b. 1974 | 21 September 2024 | present | 1 year, 63 days |
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