Dalmatian Action ( Dalmatinska akcija or DA ) was a 1990s regionalist and autonomist party in the region of Dalmatia within Croatia , that advocated for the political autonomy of Dalmatia within Croatia, including the creation of a Dalmatian regional government with a legislative assembly, with autonomy over cultural issues involving Dalmatia. It was founded in December 1990. During the Croatian War of Independence , Croatian President Franjo Tuđman accused the DA of being an anti-Croat separatist organization in league with Serb separatists intent on breaking up Croatia, the DA responded to Tuđman's accusation by denying its validity, saying that it was only interested in autonomy, and said that an autonomous Dalmatia would be a beneficial means to end the Serbian aggression and terrorism of Serbs from self-proclaimed Krajina, as Dalmatian autonomy could insure Dalmatian Serbs' autonomy from the central government in Zagreb , as an alternative to Serb autonomy or independence.
13-641: In the 1992 Croatian parliamentary election , it won a seat in the Croatian Parliament , but failed to pass the threshold in subsequent elections. On February 20, 2003, the Ministry of Justice erased the party from the register of political parties in Croatia, which was protested by the remaining party members including president Luka Meštrović and long-time member Mira Ljubić-Lorger. The party journal Glas Dalmacije (lit. The Voice of Dalmatia)
26-419: The 2% threshold. The opposition was very vocal, but it was also disunited - which was most evident in the rivalry between two liberal parties - Croatian Social Liberal Party and Croatian People's Party . This election, together with the presidential election, was also associated with alleged vote fraud. After the elections, some opposition candidates accused the ruling party of stealing the votes and rigging
39-573: The HDZ to win constituencies deemed hopeless by the split opposition, sometimes with barely 18% of the vote. HDZ won around 40% of the vote on the national level, but it also won 54 out of 60 individual constituencies. The only places where HDZ was soundly beaten was Istria , where the local Istrian Democratic Assembly won all 3 constituencies, while one seat in nearby city of Rijeka was taken by Vladimir Bebić , representative of Alliance of Primorje - Gorski Kotar . One seat, representing then-occupied Vukovar ,
52-512: The campaign with great confidence, because Croatia, despite being partially occupied, had won independence and international recognition under his leadership. State-controlled media at the time presented the war as practically won and peaceful reintegration of Krajina a mere formality that would occur in very foreseeable future. However, the very same period saw the emergence of opposition to Tudjman's regime, centred mostly around politicians and parties who criticised Tudjman's conduct of war and found
65-553: The decision of Constitutional Court, in order to fill quota of ethnic Serbs. This decision was controversial, because the Court explained its decision by branding SNS as an "ethnic party" and, therefore, more entitled to represent the Serb ethnic minority than any other party. This was at the expense of the left-wing Social Democratic Union party, which won more votes than SNS and had more than enough ethnic Serb candidates on its list to fill
78-746: The government to be too appeasing towards the international community and the Serbs. Other opposition leaders were troubled by Tudjman's autocratic tendencies and visible decline of democratic standards in Croatia. The Social Democratic Party of Croatia , which was nominally the main opposition party, based on its representation in the old Parliament, was in comparison somehow friendly towards Tudjman. This could be explained with its precarious position - it lost most of its membership to defections, many of its disgruntled voters defected to other parties, while many Croatians associated that party with Communism. Many analysists and opinion polls believed SDP would fail to break
91-417: The old Parliament, elected under the old Communist Constitution and in a time when Croatia had been part of Yugoslavia , clearly didn't correspond to the new political realities. Although the new Constitution called for two houses of Parliament, only one - House of Representatives - was elected. New electoral laws, written by Smiljko Sokol , were passed and a new voting system - combination of first past
104-496: The post and proportional representation was introduced. 60 members were to be elected in individual constituencies while 60 seats were to be distributed among those candidates' lists who broke 2% threshold. 12 seats were reserved for expatriate Croatians, while the Parliament had to have at least 15 members belonging to ethnic minorities - 11 Serbs and 4 others. Franjo Tudjman and his Croatian Democratic Union party entered
117-569: The quota. Nedjeljko Mihanovi%C4%87 Nedjeljko Mihanović ( Croatian pronunciation: [nědjeːʎko mixǎːnoʋit͡ɕ] ; 16 February 1930 – 27 January 2022) was a Croatian politician who served as Speaker of the Croatian Parliament from 1994 to 1995. He was an associate member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU). He retired in 2000, and died on 27 January 2022, at
130-527: The result in favour of their candidates, especially in constituencies where the election was close. The best known of such accusations related to one Zagreb constituency where the HDZ candidate and future Sabor speaker Nedjeljko Mihanović won the seat and defeated the HSLS candidate Relja Bašić only after receiving couple of hundred votes allegedly cast in Croatian prisons. The splits in the opposition allowed
143-480: Was a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union , which won an absolute majority of 85 seats. Voter turnout was 75.6%. The circumstances under which the elections took place were extraordinary - one third of the country was occupied by Krajina forces, while Croatia itself was involved in war raging in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina . Few people, however, doubted their legitimacy because
SECTION 10
#1732775944559156-521: Was published between 1994 and 2000. Dalmatian Action participated in elections on all levels. 1992 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 2 August 1992, alongside presidential elections . They were the first elections after independence and under the new constitution. All 138 seats in the Chamber of Representatives were up for election. The result
169-492: Was won by an independent candidate, while one seat in Medjimurje was won by HSLS. Although HDZ won a comfortable majority, the opposition could comfort themselves with the emergence of HSLS as the strongest opposition party. Other parties to enter Sabor were HNS, Croatian Peasant Party , Croatian Party of Rights , Dalmatian Action , SDP and Serb Popular Party . The latter had their representative in Parliament elected by
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