LIBRA - Party of Liberal Democrats ( hr, LIBRA - Stranka liberalnih demokrata or LIBRA for short, also spelled Libra) was a short-lived

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 ...

social-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

active between September 2002 and August 2005. During its existence the party ran in only one parliamentary election, in 2003, and won three seats in the 151-seat 5th Assembly of the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...

. LIBRA was formed in July 2002 and formally registered in September that year, following a split in the

Croatian Social Liberal Party The Croatian Social Liberal Party ( hr, Hrvatska socijalno-liberalna stranka or HSLS) is a conservative-liberal political party in Croatia. The HSLS was formed in 1989 as the first Croatian political party formed after the reintroduction of mult ...

(HSLS) when a faction led by

Jozo Radoš Jozo Radoš (; born 3 November 1956) is a Croatian liberal politician currently serving as one out of 11 Croatian members of the European Parliament. He previously served as a Minister of Defence, member of the Croatian Parliament and as an obs ...

, then defence minister in the

Cabinet of Ivica Račan I The Seventh Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Sedma Vlada Republike Hrvatske) was the first of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivica Račan. It was appointed on 27 January 2000 by a decree of the Acting President ...

, opposed HSLS leader

Dražen Budiša Dražen Budiša (born 25 July 1948) is a Croatian politician who used to be a leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate. As president of the Croatian Social Liberal Party through the 1990s he remains to date the ...

's decision to leave the ruling five-party centre-left coalition dominated by SDP, in the hopes of provoking an early election. However, then Prime Minister

Ivica Račan Ivica Račan (; 24 February 1944 – 29 April 2007) was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments. Račan became the first prime minister of Croatia not to be a ...

managed to avoid a fresh election by forming a reconstructed

Cabinet of Ivica Račan II The Eight Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Osma Vlada Republike Hrvatske) was the second of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivica Račan. It was announced on 30 July 2002 and its term ended on 23 December 2003. ...

on 30 July 2002, with the newly formed LIBRA holding two seats in the cabinet -

Goran Granić Goran Granić (born 18 April 1950) is a former Croatian centre-left politician who was the deputy prime minister from 2000 to 2002. Granić was born in Baška Voda. He graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Universi ...

as Deputy Prime Minister, and Roland Žuvanić as Minister for Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications. Until the end of the 4th Assembly in October 2003, the party was represented in the

with nine members, all former HSLS members, with

Ivo Škrabalo Ivo Škrabalo (; 19 February 1934 – 18 September 2011) was a Croatian film critic, screenwriter, and member of parliament. Škrabalo was born in Sombor, where he finished elementary and high school before moving to Zagreb in 1952. He enrolled at ...

as head of the party club. LIBRA then ran in the November 2003 election as a junior partner in a centre-left coalition with

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP),

Istrian Democratic Assembly The Istrian Democratic Assembly ( hr, Istarski demokratski sabor, it, Dieta democratica istriana or IDS-DDI) is a centre to centre-left, regionalist, liberal political party in Croatia primarily operating in Istria County. IDS was founded on ...

(IDS) and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

(LS). The coalition lost the election to the centre-right

Croatian Democratic Union 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 Croa ...

(HDZ), winning a total of 43 seats in a 151-seat parliament, out of which only 3 belonged to LIBRA. In February 2005 party members voted to merge with the

Croatian People's Party Croatian may refer to: *Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * Se ...

(HNS) which changed its name in

Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * S ...

(HNS-LD or, more commonly, just HNS). Two of LIBRA's MPs in the 5th Assembly, Jozo Radoš and

Vilim Herman Vilim Herman (born 19 January 1949) is a Croatian jurist and politician. A former representative in the Croatian Parliament, he serves as a professor of law at the University of Osijek. Early life Herman was born in Osijek to a Jewish family. Th ...

, joined HNS, while the third, Željko Pavlic, resigned his party membership to become independent. In August 2005 the party was formally struck from the party register.

Election history

The following is a summary of the party's results in legislative elections for the

References

{{Reflist Liberal parties in Croatia Social liberal parties Defunct political parties in Croatia Political parties established in 2002 Political parties disestablished in 2005 2005 disestablishments in Croatia 2002 establishments in Croatia