The Croatian Demochristian Party ( or HDS) is a

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. It was formed in 2009 from a merger of three minor Christian Democratic parties: * Croatian Demochristians () * Croatian Christian Democratic Party () * Party of Croatian Renaissance () Presidents of these three parties — Ante Ledić, Petar Kaćunko and Goran Dodig — signed a treaty that allowed for the Croatian Christian Democratic Party to be founded on 21 February 2009 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. The founders of the party said that their goal is to change the ideals of Croatia so that Croats will not care solely about the material realm, but also about spiritual and moral values. Also, Kaćunko said that the party will care for the general good, not for the interests of one man. The president of the party is Goran Dodig, and there are two vice-presidents are Ante Ledić and Petar Kaćunko. Since November 2023, HDS is a member party of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

History

Croatian Christian Democratic Party

The Croatian Christian Democratic Party was created in 1990 and modelled after the

Christian Democrat Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian ethics#Politics, Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo ...

parties of Western Europe, although, due to specific circumstances of early 1990s Croatia, it had more right-wing than centre-right rhetoric. In the

1990 Croatian parliamentary election 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 multi-party elections held in Croatia since 1938 Yugoslavian parliamentary ...

, it joined the bloc of moderate nationalists called

Coalition of People's Accord Coalition of People's Accord (, KNS) was the bloc of mostly moderate nationalist and Liberalism, liberal parties formed on the eve of Croatian parliamentary election, 1990, first multi-party elections in Croatia in 1990. The Coalition was initia ...

. Like all parties of that bloc, it fared badly; however, one year later, it had a ministerial post in the "National Unity" government of Franjo Gregurić. In the

1992 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 2 August 1992,Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p410 alongside 1992 Croatian presidential election, presidential elections. They were the first electio ...

, HKDS, running on its own ticket, failed to enter Croatian Parliament, while its leader

Ivan Cesar Ivan Cesar (9 May 1936 – 26 November 1993) was a Croatian politician. In 1990 he was the founder and the leader of Croatian Christian Democratic Party (HKDS). In the 1992 presidential elections in Croatia he ran as a candidate, finishing 7th. ...

finished seventh in the presidential race. This fiasco led HKDS to unite with Croatian Democratic Party (HDS) into Croatian Christian Democratic Union. The dissident faction of HKDS continued to operate under the party's old name.

Party of Croatian Renaissance

Party of Croatian Renaissance was a regional political party in

Split-Dalmatia County Split-Dalmatia County ( ) is a central-southern Dalmatian county in Croatia. The administrative center is Split. The population of the county is 455,242 (2011). The land area is 4.540 km2, the total area is 14.106,40 km2. Split-Dalmati ...

of Croatia that splintered from the

Croatian Social Liberal Party The Croatian Social Liberal Party ( or HSLS) is a conservative-liberal political party in Croatia. The HSLS were established in May 1989 in Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#Li ...

and was named after the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

Croatian Christian Democrats

Croatian Christian Democrats was a minor right-wing conservative political party that was founded in 2002.

Election results

Presidential

The following is a list of presidential candidates endorsed by HDZ in elections for President of Croatia.

Legislative

European Parliament

References

External links

Profile
at HIDRA.hr {{Authority control 2009 establishments in Croatia Christian democratic parties in Europe Conservative parties in Croatia Political parties established in 2009