Dražen Budiša
| Dražen Budiša | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of Parliament | |
|
In office 7 September 1992 – 23 December 2003 |
|
| 2nd Leader of the Opposition | |
|
In office 12 August 1992 – 27 January 2000 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Hrvoje Šarinić (1992-1993) Nikica Valentić (1993-1995) Zlatko Mateša (1995-2000) |
| Preceded by | vacant (National unity government) |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Šeks (Acting) |
| President of the Croatian Social Liberal Party |
|
|
In office 2 February 2002 – 7 December 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Jozo Radoš (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Čehok (Acting) |
|
In office November 1997 – 11 July 2001 |
|
| Preceded by | Vlado Gotovac |
| Succeeded by | Jozo Radoš (Acting) |
|
In office 1990 – February 1996 |
|
| Preceded by | Slavko Goldstein |
| Succeeded by | Vlado Gotovac |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 July 1948 Drniš, Yugoslavia |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Dražen Budiša (born 25 July 1948) is a retired Croatian politician who used to be leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate. As leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party through the 1990s he remains to date the only Leader of the Opposition no to have been from either the Croatian Democratic Union or Social Democratic Party.
Budiša was born in Drniš, Croatia, Yugoslavia. He was one of the radical student leaders during the Croatian Spring in the 1970s. For his activities he was later sent to Lepoglava prison by Communist authorities. Before the arrival of democracy he worked as a librarian. In 1989 he was one of the founders of Croatian Social Liberal Party and later its leader. During the 1990 elections his party joined Coalition of People's Accord and fared badly, including Budiša who failed to win a seat.
In August 1991, during the war, Budiša became a minister in war-time cabinet of Franjo Gregurić. In February 1992, he was the first ministers to break ranks, being opposed to the constitutional laws guaranteeing political autonomy of ethnic Serbs in exchange for their formal recognition of Croatian sovereignty. He announced his decision to resign during televised session of the Croatian Parliament, and thus became rallying point for many Croatians dissatisfied with the policies of Franjo Tuđman.
Although he lost the presidential election of 1992 to Tuđman, he confirmed his status of opposition leader, beating many other, presumably more charismatic leaders like Savka Dabčević-Kučar and Dobroslav Paraga. His HSLS party also fared relatively well at those elections and later had even better results few months later on Chamber of Counties, regional and local elections, when HSLS reached its zenith.
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