Croatian parliamentary election, 2003

2000 ←

23 November 2003

→ 2007

All 151 seats to Hrvatski sabor 76 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	61.7%
	First party	Second party

Leader	Ivo Sanader	Ivica Račan
Party	HDZ	SDP
Last election	46 seats	49 seats (SDP, IDS, LS)
Seats won	66 / 151	43 / 151
Seat change	20	6
Popular vote	840,692	560,593
Percentage	33.9%	22.6%

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	Vesna Pusić	Zlatko Tomčić
Party	HNS	HSS
Last election	5 seats (HNS, PGS, SBHS)	17 seats
Seats won	11 / 151	10 / 151
Seat change	6	7
Popular vote	198,781	177,359
Percentage	8.0%	7.2%

Results of the election in each of the ten electoral districts of Croatia: the party with the majority of votes in each electoral unit.
HDZ: blue; SDP coalition: red

Prime Minister before election

Ivica Račan
SDP

Subsequent Prime Minister

Ivo Sanader
HDZ

Ivica Račan
SDP

Ivo Sanader
HDZ

Parliamentary elections to elect all 151 members of the Croatian Parliament were held on November 23, 2003. They were the 5th parliamentary elections to take place since the first multi-party elections in 1990. Turnout was 61.7%. The result was a victory for the opposition Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ) which won a plurality of 66 seats, but fell short of the 76 needed to form a government. HDZ chairman Ivo Sanader was named the 8th Prime Minister of Croatia on 23 December 2003, after parliament passed a confidence motion in his government cabinet, with 88 Members of Parliament voting in favor, 29 against and 14 abstaining. The ruling coalition, consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Croatian People's Party (HNS), Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and the Liberal Party (LS) did not contest the elections as a single bloc. Namely, the SDP ran with the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the Party of Liberal Democrats (Libra) and the Liberal Party (LS), HNS ran with the Alliance of Primorje-Gorski Kotar (PGS) and the Slavonia-Baranja Croatian Party (SBHS), while HSS ran on its own.

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