Republic (), formally Res Publica () in English, is a

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

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 ...

. The party's founder and current president is . It ran in the 2024 parliamentary election in a coalition with

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

Name and symbol

The party's name was inspired by

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...

. By its statut, the party's international name is ''

Res Publica ', also spelled ''rēs pūblica'' to indicate vowel length, is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning "public affair". It is the root of the ''republic'', and '' commonwealth'' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations var ...

'' (). The party's symbol is a golden

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

, the national animal of Croatia.

History

On 2 December 2023, the party was founded and introduced to the public by its leader Damir Vanđelić, ahead of the parliamentary election of the upcoming year. Vanđelić, a former head of the INA supervisory board and director of the Reconstruction Fund, was previously in negotiations with

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...

to be their candidate for

Mayor of Zagreb This article contains a list of people who have served as mayor of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, or president of the Zagreb Assembly. List See also *List of mayors in Croatia References External links Grad Zagreb - svi gradonačelnici ...

in the 2021 Zagreb local elections, but he refused. The party members are described as people successful in their fields, most of whom haven't been politically active before. The six vice presidents elected at the founding convention included

Vesna Škare-Ožbolt Vesna Škare-Ožbolt (; born 20 June 1961) is a Croatian politician. She was the 10th Minister of Justice of Croatia from 2003 until 2006. She was the second female holder of that office, as well as the second consecutive woman after Ingrid An ...

, former

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the cabinet of Ivo Sanader (2003–2006), Gordana Deranja, former head of Croatian Employers Association, and Dario Marenić, former deputy leader of

Croatian Party of Rights — Dr. Ante Starčević Croatian Party of Rights Dr. Ante Starčević ( or HSP AS) is a nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and te ...

. On 17 January 2024, Škare-Ožbolt left the party as it "violated her integrity". The party announced a coalition with a liberal party

for the parliamentary election. The coalition, with Vanđelić as the candidate for

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, is focused on lowering

taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

, implementing

reforms Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

and fighting corruption. Republic failed to enter Sabor.

Ideology

Vanđelić described the party's

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

as "widely

", with elements of

social policies Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to Compar ...

and "strategies that would usually be attributed to the so-called

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

". When asked about

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

on N1, he gave a controversial statement for saying that, while the final decision is on the woman, "a woman's greatest urge is to bear (a baby)".

Election results

Legislative

European Parliament

References

External links

* {{Croatian political parties Modern history of Croatia Political parties established in 2023 Liberal parties in Croatia 2023 establishments in Croatia Classical liberal parties