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53-609: HSLS first won the elections in 2000 and formed a coalition government with four other parties, including the largest party of the Croatian centre-left , the Social Democratic Party of Croatia . After losing the 2003 general election , the party's decline in political influence started. In the most recent 2015 general election , HSLS won 2 out of 151 seats in the Croatian Parliament as a member of

106-704: A center-right coalition led by the Croatian Democratic Union party. The HSLS is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party . Party president is Darinko Kosor , elected to that post in November 2009. The HSLS was formed on 20 May 1989 as Croatian Social Liberal Union ( Croatian : Hrvatski socijalno liberalni savez ). It was the first Croatian political party formed after

159-522: A country which prohibits happiness and equal rights". Hungary's ruling Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) welcomed the results, which cheered the approval of partnership based on "the order of nature" and the affirmation of marriage "in the Christian sense". According to the KDNP, it is the victory of the "European Christian values". The Rabbinical Centre of Europe issued a statement that it

212-454: A low turnout in these areas, the outcome was significantly influenced by the so-called Serbian Cyrillic Referendum initiative, which aimed to curtail the official use of minority languages in Croatia . Notably, this second initiative was later deemed unconstitutional. The Prime Minister Zoran Milanović rejected accusations by civic initiatives that the government was complicit in calling

265-429: A man and a woman, HSLS urged its members and supporters to vote against proposed change. The following is a summary of the party's results in legislative elections for the Croatian Parliament . The "Total votes" and "Percentage" columns include sums of votes won by pre-election coalitions HSLS had been part of. In elections where it became possible for the candidates of HSLS to receive preferential votes , that statistic

318-434: A public broadcaster. As before all previous elections since the breakup of Yugoslavia, the electoral laws were altered in an attempt to improve the chances for the ruling party; this included a new voting system and redistricting. The first-past-the-post constituencies introduced in the previous election were scrapped and proportional representation was implemented (with the exception of ethnic minority seats). The country

371-724: A separate election system: Milan Đukić (47,7% of votes) for the Serb national minority, Tibor Santo (42,8%) for the Hungarian minority, Furio Radin (78,9%) for the Italian minority, Zdenka Čuhnil (40,6%) for the Czech and Slovak minorities and Borislav Graljuk (34,1%) for the Austrian , German , Jewish , Rusyn and Ukrainian minorities. 2013 Croatian constitutional referendum Recent referendums A constitutional referendum

424-612: A supermajority in parliament, allowing them to amend the Constitution and transform Croatia from a semi-presidential system into an incomplete parliamentary system in November 2000, and abolish the upper chamber, the Chamber of Counties, in March 2001. The constitutional changes of 2000 greatly limited the power of the president, but retained the direct election of the office. National minorities elected five representatives through

477-557: A whole lost five seats compared to the previous election, but HSLS retained their two seats. They remained in the governing coalition under Ivo Sanader. HSLS continued to support the government of Jadranka Kosor until July 10, 2010, when Darinko Kosor, the leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party, announced his party's decision to leave the governing coalition. This resulted in the party's two parliamentary representatives Ivan Čehok and Antun Korušec leaving

530-440: Is a union between a woman and a man, then it is not the same as other types of unions. The Church does not promote any kind of discrimination when it backs that definition of marriage. On the contrary, we can say that the danger exists today of marriage itself being discriminated against, by presenting it as something that it cannot be. The Church wants to preserve marriage and wants the definition of it be clearly spelled out, so that

583-581: Is added to the total votes column. The "Total seats" column includes sums of seats won by HSLS in election constituencies plus representatives of ethnic minorities affiliated with HSLS. The following is a list of presidential candidates who were endorsed by HSLS in elections for President of Croatia . National groups: * observer *associate member **observer 2000 Croatian parliamentary election Recent referendums Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 3 January 2000 to elect members of

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636-560: The 2012 EU membership referendum . Pusić contended that the threshold had protected certain groups from discrimination by a minority, but care was not taken to specifically exempt human, civil and minority rights from being the subject of referendum questions. Hannes Swoboda , the President of the European Socialists , said that he "was deeply disappointed because he saw Croatia as an open and advanced society, and not as

689-574: The HDZ and SDP, did not embrace the proposal and it was rejected by 75 votes against and 39 in favour. The only political party of the ruling coalition that supported the constitutional review was the HNS . After a two-day session, on 14 November the Constitutional Court of Croatia announced that there is no reason to over-rule the parliamentary vote on the referendum. The judges emphasized that

742-848: The Baptist Union of Croatia, the Evangelical Pentecostal Church, the Bet Israel Jewish Community and the Mesihat of Croatia issued a joint statement in support of the referendum on 12 November. However, the Croatian Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Jewish Community of Zagreb opposed the proposed amendment. The Rabbinical Center of Europe has written a statement in support of the referendum and

795-423: The Chamber of Representatives. The ruling Croatian Democratic Union entered the elections weakened by a series of corruption scandals that came to light in the previous parliamentary term and fractures between its hardline nationalists and more moderate members. However, the most important factor was the deteriorating health of the party leader and Croatian president Franjo Tuđman , which left no successor within

848-591: The Constitutional Court did not need to respond to citizen proposals, because only the Sabor had the right to request a review of the constitutionality of the referendum question, but which it has refused to do when making the decision to call a referendum. The Prime Minister Zoran Milanović told HRT that he would vote against the proposal. President Ivo Josipović called the referendum unnecessary, without practical political consequences regardless of

901-431: The Croatian people and a good in all of us. Bozanić repeatedly called the issue of marriage naming a serious issue for country's future and reiterated the viewpoint that it is not Church's intent to discriminate against anybody, but only to "preserve what we already have". He remarked that the referendum was an opportunity for Christians to practically manifest their fate by voting yes, by respecting God's intent and serving

954-457: The SDP and HSLS concluded that they could win elections even without the four other parties, which later formed a separate bloc. On 25 May, the governing HDZ and the six mainstream opposition parties signed an agreement to develop a consensus-based legislative framework for the upcoming parliamentary elections. This agreement also included a commitment to restructure Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) as

1007-475: The Truth. He echoed his previous statements that marriage and family are not a private affair of the individual which they can shape as they see fit, but are of wider social significance and must not be experimented upon. The initiative and their goals were generally unfavorably reported by the mainstream Croatian media. On the day of the referendum the initiative decided to forbid access to their headquarters to

1060-531: The change was organized by a Catholic citizens' group 'On Behalf of the Family' ( U ime obitelji ) and collected over 700,000 signatures by May 2013. The initiative was a reaction to the government's proposal to legalize same-sex partnership. The referendum was approved following a vote in the Sabor on 8 November in which 104 of the 151 MPs voted in favor of holding a referendum. The group Citizens Voting Against

1113-507: The civil initiative 'On behalf of the family', saying they were "very disturbed at reports that some have compared this pro-marriage initiative with the Nazi regime and the ideology of fascism". Cardinal Josip Bozanić encouraged support for the amendment in a letter that was read in churches where he singled out heterosexual marriage as being the only kind of union that is capable of biologically producing children. If marriage

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1166-456: The constitution of the Republic of Croatia being amended with a provision stating that marriage is matrimony between a woman and a man? After the initiative gathered enough signatures to hold a referendum, it was widely speculated that the referendum would still not be held. The political willingness in the Sabor to call a referendum was uncertain given that a left-wing coalition which opposed

1219-522: The constitutionality of the referendum because it was not officially requested to do so by the Croatian Parliament. The judges were divided in opinion on whether the Constitutional Court should review the constitutionality of the referendum. Several of them pointed out that the Constitutional Court must give a statement on what the constitutional definition of marriage means for the position of LGBT minorities in Croatia. Others explained that

1272-554: The constitutionality of the referendum itself was not considered, because they believed that the Sabor had expressed its legal willingness to deem the referendum question compliant with the Constitution. However, they further emphasized that any possible amendment to the Constitution that defined marriage as a union of man and woman could not affect further development of the legal framework of the institution of extramarital and same-sex unions. The Constitutional Court did not rule on

1325-732: The country's two largest newspapers, announced it would openly endorse the campaign against the amendment. A similar statement was later made by Novi list . The Croatian Bishops' Conference called for Croatian Catholics to vote in favour of the constitutional amendment. Representatives from the Croatian Bishops' Conference, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Reformed Christian (Calvinist) Church,

1378-490: The country, but the date of 3 January was chosen as the most suitable. As election day, the outcome became more certain. The campaign was brief and relatively uneventful with the HDZ being visibly weakened and demoralised by the death of its long-term leader. On election day, voter turnout – the highest since 1990 – indicated the desire to see a change of government. Following the elections, Social Democratic Party leader Ivica Račan

1431-507: The democratic world a clear process of equalization of rights of all people, regardless of their different personal characteristics, in particular their sexual orientation Tomislav Karamarko , leader of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union said he would vote in favor. Four other parties in the Parliament also supported the referendum; in total 104 of 151 members of the Croatian Parliament supported it. Jutarnji list , one of

1484-409: The extent to which the regions were affected by the war in the 1990s. In the capital Zagreb , 43.5% of voters voted no , which was interpreted as the capital being an amalgam of "largely incompatible tendencies". Statistical analysis by electoral units has also indicated a strong correlation to political choices, with regions whose citizens voted for right-wing parties generally voting in favor of

1537-479: The initiative but an ad hoc registered association Građani odlučuju ("The citizens decide") which was founded by the vice-president of HRAST Krešimir Miletić. Željka Markić was furthermore criticized by opponents for allegedly being a member of the controversial Catholic organization Opus Dei . Voters were asked the question: Jeste li za to da se u Ustav Republike Hrvatske unese odredba po kojoj je brak životna zajednica žene i muškarca? Are you in favor of

1590-412: The institution of marriage and the institution of family are preserved for future generations. The Church is therefore not against anyone, it is open for dialogue with everyone, but wants to make it clear that some things can not be made equal. We respect everyone's opinions, but we want the institution of marriage and family, which is imperiled by societal developments today, to be guarded for the future of

1643-574: The issue. We believe that this kind of discrimination of journalists announced by the initiative "On behalf of the family" is hitherto unprecedented in Croatia. All of the major Croatia media have responded to the call and in solidarity with the banned journalists have completely boycotted the coverage of the initiative. A poll conducted in June 2013 revealed that 55.3% of Croats support the changes, while 31.1% said they were opposed. Another poll from November revealed that 54.3% of respondents will vote for

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1696-574: The journalists belonging to a group of selected media whom the initiative accused of bias, unprofessionalism and plagiarism. Among these were the Croatian Radiotelevision , the public broadcasting company, the most visited Croatian Internet portals Index.hr , Net.hr and T-portal, as well as all of the publications by Europapress Holding and Novi list . The initiative required of all of the journalists to submit their cell phone numbers, their home addresses, e-mail addresses as well as

1749-579: The name and e-mail address of their editors. This was strongly denounced by the Croatian Journalists' Association who invited all of the media to boycott the coverage of initiative on the referendum day, and emphasized the potential for the abuse of private information. In the last few weeks we have seen a number of anonymous vulgar letters sent to respected journalists in which they are being insulted and threatened by unknown persons, and obvious semi-fascists, simply because of their position on

1802-518: The only large cities, and Istria county and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County were the only counties where the majority of the voters voted no . The counties most supportive of changes were in the Croatian South: Šibenik-Knin , Split-Dalmatia , Dubrovnik-Neretva , and Brod-Posavina . This relative polarization of results between Croatian North and South has been interpreted by sociologists as closely connected to economic indicators as well as

1855-407: The outcome, and a waste of taxpayer money. The president furthermore commented that marriage has already been defined in Croatian law as a union of man and woman, but that the referendum question has a strong psychological effect with an underlying discriminatory message. If successful, this will only strengthen the message that we are not willing to accept diversity, that we want to stop throughout

1908-555: The party split in 2002 (the forming of LIBRA ), HSLS left the government. At the 2003 Croatian parliamentary election , an alliance of the HSLS and the Democratic Centre won 4.0% of the popular vote and 3 out of 151 seats. Two of these seats were held by the HSLS, down from 25 in 2000, causing Budiša to submit his resignation as president. After elections the HSLS supported the government of Ivo Sanader . In 2004, Ivan Čehok

1961-521: The party. On the other side, two major Croatian opposition parties – the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Croatian Social Liberal Party – had their coalition formally agreed in 1998 and spent more than a year preparing for the elections. At first, they were to run together with the Croatian Peasant Party , Croatian People's Party , Istrian Democratic Assembly and Liberal Party , but as Tuđman's condition worsened, leaders of

2014-404: The party. Since July 14 2010, HSLS have no representatives in Parliament for the first time in party's history. In recent years by supporting Ivo Sanader , HSLS moved from social liberalism to conservative liberalism . This was considered unpopular, and the party's decline in political influence resumed. Ahead of 2013 constitutional referendum for defining marriage as being a union between

2067-462: The president of the party. However, in November 1997 Budiša became the president again, and a faction led by Gotovac split off to form the Liberal Party . In 1998, HSLS created permanent coalition with Social Democratic Party (SDP), which won elections two years later, replaced ruling Croatian Democratic Union and formed the new government together with four other parties. However, after

2120-669: The proposal and 33.6% against. 12.1% of respondents said they were not sure. The same poll revealed that 85.7% of HDZ voters and 39.5% of SDP voters support the proposed amendment. A poll published by HRT two days before the vote showed that 59% of respondents would vote for the proposal, 31% against and 10% did not answer. After processing all of the ballots, the State Election Commission announced that 65.87% voted yes , 33.51% no and 0.57% of ballots were disregarded as invalid. 37.9% of eligible voters have voted. Pula , Rijeka , Varaždin and Čakovec were

2173-422: The proposed amendment held a majority of the seats. However, in a session held on 8 November, the Sabor voted to call a national referendum, with 104 votes in favour, 13 against and five abstentions. A former Prime Minister and an independent MP Jadranka Kosor proposed that the request for the review of constitutionality of the referendum be submitted to the Constitutional Court. However, the two largest parties,

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2226-435: The public faces of the initiative Željka Markić, Krešimir Planinić, Krešimir Miletić, Ladislav Ilčić, as well as members of their families, were simultaneously leaders of the referendum effort and candidates of the right wing political party HRAST . The Vote Against and the broader coalition of civil society organizations, Platform 112, claimed that the bank account listed on 'On behalf of the Family' web site does not belong to

2279-614: The referendum, while regions who voted for the left-wing coalition were largely against the referendum - albeit with many exceptions. Beyond the municipalities in Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Varaždin, and Međimurje counties, the referendum initiative faced rejection exclusively within specific municipalities where the Serbs of Croatia constituted a majority. These municipalities included Negoslavci , Borovo , Trpinja , Markušica , Jagodnjak , Vrhovine , Ervenik , and Civljane . Despite

2332-450: The referendum. Milanović pointed out that the referendum was allowed by the constitution, that it is in no way related to the government, and no way does it change the existing definition of marriage according to Croatian laws. He further announced the upcoming enactment of the Law on Partnership, which will enable same-sex persons to form a lifetime partnership union. Such a union will share

2385-424: The reintroduction of multi-party system. As such it was part of Coalition of People's Accord during the first free elections in 1990. Its first leader was Slavko Goldstein , succeeded in 1990 by Dražen Budiša , who remained the leader until 1995. HSLS became the main opposition party after 1992 presidential and parliamentary elections and remained such until the late 1990s. In February 1996, Vlado Gotovac became

2438-485: The same rights as that of marriage proper, apart from the fact that gay couples will not be able to adopt children, though they will be allowed to have custody of them. Vesna Pusić , the First Deputy Prime Minister, also rejected accusations on government's responsibility, commenting that the referendum is result of an omission, when the threshold of 50 percent voter turnout was abolished to pass

2491-405: Was appointed prime minister on 27 January 2000, by a decree of Acting President and Speaker of the outgoing assembly of Parliament, Vlatko Pavletić . The appointment was confirmed by a parliamentary vote on 2 February in which 122 of 151 MPs voted in favor and one against the cabinet, while one MP abstained. Račan led a coalition of SDP and HSLS, which together with a bloc of four other parties held

2544-601: Was called after a conservative organization U ime obitelji (“On Behalf of the Family”) gathered more than 700,000 signatures in May 2013 demanding a referendum on the subject. The initiative was supported by conservative political parties, the Catholic Church as well as by several other faith groups. The ruling left-wing coalition opposed the amendment along with numerous human rights organizations. A petition in favor of

2597-511: Was disturbed by comparisons between the initiative and the Nazi regime and totalitarian fascism, and that such statements were inappropriate and insulting to the memory of millions of their victims. Croatian bishop Vlado Košić described the government official's opposition to the referendum as shocking, unacceptable and undemocratic, emphasizing that Croats are Catholic people, cherishing traditions by which they have lived for centuries. He accused

2650-563: Was divided into ten electoral districts , all drawn in order to maximise the support for HDZ. Each district had to elect 14 members with an electoral threshold of 5%. Due to Tuđman's illness and death in December 1999, the elections were repeatedly postponed for constitutional reasons. There was speculation about elections being held during the Christmas holidays in order to have as many Croatian expatriates (traditionally HDZ supporters) in

2703-599: Was elected party president. After the 2005 Croatian local elections , it was announced that there are merger negotiations between HSLS and the Liberal Party . The latter dissolved itself, with membership and party infrastructure re-joining HSLS in January 2006. Đurđa Adlešić succeeded Ivan Čehok as the leader of reunited party. Before the 2007 elections , HSLS, although still in government announced joint election ticket with opposition parties – Croatian Peasant Party and Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar . This coalition as

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2756-403: Was formed from 88 civil society organizations (led GONG , Center for Peace Studies and Zagreb Pride ), supported by numerous public persons, film actors and actresses, academics, activists and politicians, including media such as Novi list and Jutarnji list and musicians, such as Severina , Dubioza kolektiv , Let 3 , Hladno pivo , TBF and others. The Vote Against campaign claimed that

2809-441: Was held in Croatia on 1 December 2013. The proposed amendment to the constitution would define marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, which would create a constitutional prohibition against same-sex marriage . 38% of eligible voters voted. After processing all of the ballots, the State Election Commission announced that 66% voted yes , 34% no , while and 1% of ballots were disregarded as invalid. The referendum

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