Parliamentary elections were held in the Socialist Republic of Croatia between 22 and 23 April 1990; the second round of voting occurred on 6–7 May. These were the first free, multi-party elections held in Croatia since 1938, and the first such elections for the Croatian Parliament since 1913. Voters elected candidates for 356 seats in the tri-cameral parliament; the turnout in the first round ranged between 76.56% and 84.54% for various parliamentary chambers. In the second round, the turnout was 74.82%. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 205 seats, ousted the League of Communists of Croatia – Party of Democratic Reform (SKH-SDP) from power and ended 45 years of communist rule in Croatia. The new parliament convened for the first time on 30 May, elected Franjo Tuđman as President of the Croatian Presidency and soon after renamed the office to President of Croatia.
The election took place during a political crisis within the Yugoslav federation, the disintegration of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and growing ethnic tensions between Croats and Serbs. Though the SKH-SDP was widely expected to win the elections, the HDZ took advantage of questions of nationality and political reform becoming the dominant issues of concern, and won by a wide margin. After the election, SKH-SDP lost a large proportion of its membership, many of whom crossed the party lines and joined the HDZ. The electoral campaign exacerbated ethnic rivalries, and mutually provocative actions led to deep mistrust. Fear was further fomented by authorities in the neighbouring Socialist Republic of Serbia. In the months following the elections, the Croatian parliament amended the Constitution of Croatia to remove the term "Socialist" from the republic's official name, and to remove communist symbols from the flag and coat of arms of Croatia.
Background.
On 10 December 1989, one day before the party's 11th Congress, the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia (—SKH) held an emergency meeting. The body adopted a decision, by a majority of seven to six, that the next election, due to be held in early 1990, would be a free, multiparty election. At the Congress, Ivica Račan, who supported the Central Committee's decision, won the position of SKH Chairman by a small margin. Račan's victory gave support to liberal and reformist initiatives in the sphere of political administration. The Congress also supported the release of all political prisoners and the termination of all political trials. Encouraged by this change in SKH policy, the Croatian Parliament amended legislation to permit the establishment of political parties other than the SKH on 11 January 1990. Even though the decision by the SKH Central Committee of 10 December 1989 coincided with the signing of a public petition demanding free, multiparty elections, the SKH's move was not motivated by public opinion. It was based on the SKH's wish to achieve greater power and confidence through an election victory.
The SKH's plans for liberalization and reform extended further. With the League of Communists of Slovenia (—ZKS), it put forward a proposal to hold multiparty elections and to reform the SKJ into a loose confederation of political parties in which the SKJ had no authority over associated parties, effectively eliminating the SKJ from political life. The proposal was put forward at the SKJ's 14th Extraordinary Congress on 22 January 1990, at which a confrontation primarily between the ZKS and the Serbian delegation led by Slobodan Milošević, which was supported by the majority of delegates, developed. All the ZKS's proposals were rejected and the Slovene delegates left in protest. In turn, SKH representatives demanded the Congress be adjourned, but the Serbian and Montenegrin delegates preferred to continue the Congress without the Slovenes. In response, the SKH delegates also left the Congress, effectively marking the end of the SKJ.
Electoral legislation.
On 15 February, the Croatian Parliament adopted amendments to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Croatia and passed a package of electoral laws to facilitate multiparty elections, but left the parliamentary system unchanged. Elections were scheduled for all 356 seats in the tricameral parliament consisting of the Socio-Political Council (80 seats), the Council of Associated Labour (160 seats) and the Council of Municipalities (116 seats). The electoral legislation established constituencies for each parliamentary chamber, whose sizes varied greatly. The eighty Socio-Political Council constituencies encompassed many small municipalities or parts of large ones, varying in population from fewer than 32,000 to more than 80,000. Council of Municipalities constituencies corresponded to municipalities with greater population variations of fewer than 1,000 to more than 150,000. The Associated Labour Council members were to be elected in 160 constituencies whose populations also varied greatly. There was no universal suffrage for the Associated Labour Council elections; voting was restricted to the employed, the self-employed and students.
The electoral legislation defined a two-round system of voting. Candidates receiving a 50% of votes from at least 33.3% of the constituency win election outright in a single-member constituency. If no candidate received the required level of support, a second round was scheduled two weeks later, in which all candidates who received at least 7% of votes in the first round could take part. The candidate who received the most votes—not necessarily an absolute majority—win the constituency. The two-round system was adopted despite the objection of opposition groups, who demanded proportional representation. The first round of the elections was scheduled for 22–23 April, and the second round for 6–7 May.
Political parties.
The first opposition groups in Croatia were set up as civic associations in 1989. The first among them was the Croatian Social Liberal Union (—HSLS), which was founded on 20 May 1989 and was later renamed the Croatian Social Liberal Party. The Croatian Democratic Union (—HDZ), which would later become the main opposition to the SKH, was founded on 17 June 1989 but was registered on 25 January 1990. The HDZ held its first convention on 24–25 February 1990, when Franjo Tuđman was elected its president. On 1 March 1990, the Coalition of People's Accord (—KNS) was formed as an alliance of the Croatian Christian Democratic Party (—HKDS), the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (—SDSH), the Croatian Democratic Party (—HDS), the HSLS and five independent candidates; Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Ivan Supek, Miko Tripalo, Dragutin Haramija and Srećko Bijelić, who were prominent figures of the 1971 Croatian Spring political movement.
On 17 February 1990, the Serb Democratic Party was founded, but failed to spread its organization significantly beyond Knin. Generally, organizational skills of the parties varied significantly; only SKH candidates stood for election in every constituency. The HDZ did not field candidates in 82 constituencies (25 for the Council of Municipalities and 57 for the Council of Associated Labour).
On 5 February, Croatian authorities registered the first seven political parties, including the SKH, HDZ, HSLS and several other members of the KNS. Eighteen political parties and many independent candidates took part in the election. 1,609 candidates ran for seats in the parliament. On 20 March, the SKH decided to change its name to League of Communists of Croatia – Party of Democratic Reform (—SKH-SDP).
Campaign.
The election campaign took place from late March until 20 April, employing a mix of traditional devices and concepts inspired by election campaigns in the West. These largely involved the use of posters, flags bearing the Croatian chequy arms, graffiti, badges, stickers, support from entertainers and media, and the use of political rallies. Parties also relied on word of mouth, media manipulation and even paranoia. An overall lack of political experience led to the use of some awkward, distasteful or otherwise poor slogans and posters. SKH-SDP posters were largely devoted to Račan and his messages: "We stopped single-mindedness, achieved democracy, Croatia freely elects" and "Račan's NO to single-mindedness". The HDZ used simple messages: "One knows – HDZ" and "HDZ – our name is our agenda", while the KNS used an image of a chessboard with the word "Koalicija" ("Coalition") inscribed in its fields. In the initial stages of the campaign, the SDP-SKH was generally expected to win; "The Economist" predicted a coalition government would be formed.
Issues of nation and elections/democracy dominated the overall campaign; economic issues were three-times-less represented than either of the former issues. A similar breakdown of campaign focus existed in the cases of the HDZ, SKH-SDP and KNS when analyzed individually. The theme of restructuring Yugoslavia as a looser confederation and, should that fail, achieving independence was reaffirmed in the campaign and accepted by Tuđman. For the SKH-SDP, the elections primarily meant a campaign for the reform of the Yugoslav federation. The HDZ's priority was building the Croatian state.
In the run-up to the vote, 15% of Croats said they supported independence and 64% declared in favour of the proposed confederation. 37% said independence was a political priority. Parties gradually developed their ethnic profiles during the campaign. While the SDS appealed exclusively to Croatian Serb voters, surveys indicated 98% of the HDZ's voters were Croats. The KNS applied moderately nationalistic rhetoric but failed to seriously challenge the HDZ. Growing Serbian and Croatian Serb nationalism increasingly prompted Croat voters to support the HDZ. The SKH-SDP appealed to an ethnically mixed electorate; surveys indicated 52% of its supporters were Croats, 28% were Serbs and 17% declared themselves as Yugoslavs. Among Croatian Serbs, only 23% supported the SDS, while 46% supported the SKH-SDP. Eventually, the HDZ emerged as the most credible anti-communist party in Croatia, rejecting the arbitrary rule and corruption that many Croatians associated with 45 years of communist domination, and affirming Croatia's national and religious identity.
Media coverage.
Mainstream media in Croatia largely portrayed Tuđman and HDZ as right-wing nationalists, often as extremists who threatened Yugoslavia's continuation as a unified state. These comparisons were made following conflicting media statements by the party's leaders—especially at the HDZ general convention—which made it difficult to assess whether this was merely an electoral tactic, or whether the party's intention was to encourage Croatian nationalism. The Croatian public came to view the HDZ as the only party that could effectively "defend Croatia's national interests". The SKH-SDP was portrayed as a party of moderates by the Croatian media, and it avoided using the term "Croatian national interests" as a major talking point, fearing it would lose the support of Croatian Serb voters. The KNS was positioned between the two but its incoherent approach and greater emphasis on individual rights rather than national issues cost it votes.
Beginning in mid-1988, mainstream Serbian media reported that Croatia was supporting Albanian separatism in the Serbian province of Kosovo and was oppressing Croatian Serbs to pressure Serbia's leaders. Media heavily criticized the HDZ and equated it with the fascist Ustaše movement that controlled Croatia during World War II, while the possibility of a HDZ electoral victory was portrayed as a revival of the Croatian fascist state. This rhetoric was reinforced after Tuđman said the NDH was "not merely a quisling construct, but also an expression of the historical aspirations of the Croatian nation". Serbian media consequently equated the prospect of an HDZ electoral victory with a repeat of the Ustaše-led massacres, deportations and forced conversions of Serbs that had occurred in Croatia during World War II. Media had criticized the SKH-SDP since 1989 as ineffective in stopping the rise of Croatian nationalism; the SDS was promoted as the Croatian Serbs' only hope of preserving their national identity.
Petrova Gora rally.
A a rally held at Petrova Gora on 4 March had a significant impact upon ethnic homogenization. It was not formally associated with any party standing in the election; it was organized by the municipalities of Vojnić and Vrginmost, and the Yugoslav Independent Democratic Party. According to the then-mayor of Vrginmost, the two municipalities had organized the rally to show their support for brotherhood and unity—a Titoist concept whereby all of Yugoslavia's ethnic groups would live in harmony—instead of letting it become a Serb nationalist event. The rally was attended by tens of thousand Serbs who heard mainly pro-Yugoslav speeches about the threat posed by the HDZ and the unfavourable position of Serbs in Croatian society. The SKH-SDP condemned the rally in advance as being harmful to inter-ethnic relations and potentially capable of increasing Croatian nationalism. Croatian media linked the rally to the anti-bureaucratic revolution in neighbouring Serbia and depicted it as a protest demanding the overthrow of the Croatian government. Conversely, Serbian media equated the SKH-SDP with the HDZ, declared the entire Croatian political spectrum nationalist and said Serbs should