Croatian parliamentary election, 1995

Croatian parliamentary election, 1995

1992 ← 29 October 1995 → 2000

outgoing members ←

All 127 seats to Chamber of Representatives 64 seats needed for a majority Turnout 68.8%   First party Second party   Leader Franjo Tuđman Zlatko Tomčić Party HDZ HSS Last election 85 seats 13 seats (HSS, IDS, HNS) Seats won 75 / 127 18 / 127 Seat change 10 5 Popular vote 1,093,403 441,390 Percentage 45.2% 18.3%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Dražen Budiša Ivica Račan Party HSLS SDP Last election 14 seats 11 seats Seats won 12 / 127 10 / 127 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 279,245 215,839 Percentage 11.6% 8.9%

Prime Minister before election Nikica Valentić HDZ Subsequent Prime Minister Zlatko Mateša HDZ

Nikica Valentić
HDZ

Zlatko Mateša
HDZ

Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 29 October 1995 to elect the 127 members of the Chamber of Representatives. The result was a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 75 seats, an absolute majority. Therefore, this was the last election to date in which a single party won enough seats to govern alone, without the need for a pre-election or post-election coalition. Voter turnout was 68.8%.

The term of the existing Chamber of Representatives was to expire one year later, in 1996. However, Croatian government of Franjo Tudjman and his Croatian Democratic Union party hoped to exploit national euphoria over the success of Operation Storm. Chamber of Representatives was quickly dissolved, but not before passing yet another piece of electoral legislation, introducing new voting system which was to improve chances of ruling party.

According to the new electoral law, 32 seats were won in individual constituencies on First past the post basis, while 80 seats were to be distributed on the basis of proportional representation, with the threshold being raised from previous 2% to 5%.

Another addition was raised threshold for lists of party coalitions - 8% for coalition of two parties and 11% for coalition of three and more parties. It is more than obvious that the new rules were introduced to discourage coalitions of small opposition parties and subsequently have their votes dispersed and wasted below the threshold, allowing stronger party to get additional seats.

While 12 seats were kept for Croatian expatriates, number of seats reserved for ethnic minorities have changed. This was most evident in case of Serbs, who had only 3 seats compared with previous 11.

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Wikipedia