This is a list of cabinets of
Croatian government
The Government of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Hrvatske), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Republike Hrvatske), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government ( hr, hrvatska Vlada), is the main executive branch of government ...
, the chief
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
body of the
Republic of Croatia.
Note that between 1990 and 2000 Croatia had a
semi-presidential system and members of government, including prime ministers, were all directly appointed and removed by the
president of Croatia
The president of Croatia, officially the President of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the ...
, this post being held by
Franjo Tuđman from 1990 to late 1999. During his two terms as president, Tuđman was also the chairman of the ruling conservative
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), with all prime ministers in this period also coming from his party's ranks.
Following Tuđman's death in December 1999 and the subsequent
January 2000 general election, the new centre-left parliamentary majority led by
Ivica Račan amended the
Constitution of Croatia
The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustav Republike Hrvatske) is promulgated by the Croatian Parliament.
History
While it was part of the socialist Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Croatia had its own Constitution under the ...
in November 2000 and introduced a
parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
, greatly reducing the president's executive powers. Therefore, prime ministers since Račan have usually been the leaders of parties (or coalition of parties) which held a parliament majority according to results of the general election. Meanwhile, the position of president of the Republic was made into a non-party post, which meant that presidents who served after Tuđman (
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić (; born 24 December 1934) is a Croatian lawyer and politician who served as President of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. Before serving two five-year terms as president, he was prime minister of SR Croatia (1990) after the fir ...
from 2000 to 2010,
Ivo Josipović
Ivo Josipović (; born 28 August 1957) is a Croatian academic, jurist, and politician who served as President of Croatia from 2010 to 2015.
Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ), and played a key ...
from 2010 to 2015,
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (; born 29 April 1968) is a Croatian politician and diplomat who served as President of Croatia from 2015 to 2020. She was the first woman to be elected to the office since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and ...
from 2015 to 2020 and
Zoran Milanović
Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatian politician serving as President of Croatia since 19 February 2020. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was prime minister from 2011 to 2016 and president of the Social Democratic Party f ...
since 2020) "froze" or resigned their party memberships upon getting elected or taking office for the entire duration of their five-year terms.
There have been 12 prime ministers since the introduction of a multi-party system via the
1990 general election and 15 governments headed by them. Since
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
in June 1991, however, there have been 11 prime ministers and 14 governments (beginning with that of
Josip Manolić
Josip Manolić (; born 22 March 1920) is a Croatian former politician and communist revolutionary during World War II in Yugoslavia. He served as a high-ranking official of the Yugoslav State Security Administration (OZNA or UDBA) and later as ...
).
Nine prime ministers were members of the
HDZ
The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Cro ...
during their term in office, two were members of the
SDP and one was not a member of any political party. To date two prime ministers (Ivica Račan and Ivo Sanader) have chaired more than one government.
The longest serving prime ministers to date have been
Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader (born 8 June 1953) is a former Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.
He is to date the second longest-serving prime minister since independence, holding the office for over five and a half ye ...
, who held the post for 2,022 days between December 2003 and July 2009, followed by
Zoran Milanović
Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatian politician serving as President of Croatia since 19 February 2020. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was prime minister from 2011 to 2016 and president of the Social Democratic Party f ...
(1637 days from December 2011 until January 2016),
Zlatko Mateša
Zlatko Mateša (; born 17 June 1949) is a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 1995 to 2000. A member of the Croatian Democratic Union, Mateša is currently the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee and honorary ...
(1,542 days from November 1995 to January 2000) and
Ivica Račan (1,426 days from January 2000 to December 2003). The shortest serving prime minister was
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić (; born 24 December 1934) is a Croatian lawyer and politician who served as President of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. Before serving two five-year terms as president, he was prime minister of SR Croatia (1990) after the fir ...
(86 days from May to August 1990).
To date the only prime minister to have been voted out of office by a motion of no confidence is
Tihomir Orešković
Tihomir "Tim" Orešković (; born 1 January 1966) is a Croatian Canadian businessman who was Prime Minister of Croatia from January to October 2016.
Born in Zagreb, Orešković emigrated to Canada at a young age and spent most of his life there. ...
, on 16 June 2016. He also has the distinction of being the first
non-partisan
Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party.
While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers s ...
prime minister.
Cabinets of Croatia
See also
*
Prime Minister of Croatia
, type = Head of Government
, member_of =
, reports_to = Croatian Parliament
, appointer = Croatian Parliament
, nominator = President of Croatia
, termlength = At the pleasure of the parliamentary majority. Parliamentary elections must be h ...
**
List of Croatian prime ministers by time in office
*
President of Croatia
The president of Croatia, officially the President of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the ...
**
List of presidents of Croatia
*
Government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia
*
Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
The speaker of the Croatian Parliament ( hr, Predsjednik Hrvatskog sabora, literally the president of the Croatian Parliament) is the presiding officer in the Croatian Parliament, Croatia's legislative body.
Under Article 97 of the constituti ...
*
Speaker of the Chamber of Counties of Croatia
References
Sources
Chronology of Croatian governmentsat the Croatian Information-Documentation Referral Agency.
*
{{Europe topic, Cabinet of , title=National cabinets of Europe
*
Politics of Croatia
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
Cabinets