Željka Antunović (; born 15 September 1955) is a Croatian former

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as acting president of the

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 Form ...

between April and June 2007, and as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

from 2002 until 2003 in the second cabinet of

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 ...

. She was the first and to date only female holder of the office.

Biography

Born in

Virovitica Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungary, Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). I ...

, Antunović entered the political scene in 1990 when she joined the Social Democrats of Croatia (SDH), a centre-left party formed after the establishment of democracy across Yugoslavia – and originally a major rival of the

(SDP), who had in turn recently succeeded the

League of Communists of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia (, SKH) was the Socialist Republic of Croatia, Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (, KPH). The party ...

(SKH). However, following disastrous results of the SDH in parliamentary elections, the party accepted the SDP's offer of unification, which occurred in 1994. Antunović, together with Antun Vujić, gradually rose through the ranks of the SDP. Antunović had served as a member of the

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

from 1995 to 1999, and from 2003 onwards. At the party conference in 2000, she was elected as the deputy president of the SDP. Between 2000 and 2003, she served as Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia and was named the first woman to hold the portfolio of Defence in the second cabinet of Ivica Račan, serving from 2002 until the end of the cabinet's term in 2003. On 31 January 2007, Račan announced that he was temporarily leaving politics for health reasons. Antunović then took over the chairmanship of the party; and, on 11 April, following further deterioration in Račan's health, he resigned as leader of the party, leaving Antunović as head of the SDP until the next party convention. She ran for president at the party convention on 2 June 2007, together with Milan Bandić,

Zoran Milanović Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatia, Croatian politician and the incumbent president of Croatia. First elected in 2020, he was re-elected in 2025 with 74% voter support. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was the prime min ...

and Tonino Picula. She was defeated by Milanović in the second round of voting. After her retirement from politics, she started a consulting company. She took part in

Ivo Josipović Ivo Josipović (; born 28 August 1957) is a Croatia, Croatian Academic staff, academic, jurist, composer, and politician who served as the president of Croatia from 2010 to 2015. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communist ...

's campaign for the

2014–15 Croatian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 28 December 2014 and 11 January 2015, the sixth such elections since independence in 1991. Only four candidates contested the elections, the lowest number since 1997 Croatian presidential election, 1 ...

References

External links

Željka Antunović
at the

Social Democratic Party of Croatia The Social Democratic Party of Croatia (, SDP) is a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Croatia. The SDP is Anti-fascism, anti-fascist, Progressivism, progressive, and strongly Pro-Europeanism, pro-European. The SDP was forme ...

official website
Željka Antunović
at the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Antunovic, Zeljka 1955 births Living people Deputy prime ministers of Croatia People from Virovitica Social Democrats of Croatia politicians Social Democratic Party of Croatia politicians Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Defence ministers of Croatia Female defence ministers Women government ministers of Croatia 20th-century Croatian women politicians 20th-century Croatian politicians 21st-century Croatian women politicians 21st-century Croatian politicians