Introduction

In the last 25 years since the transition to democracy, the party system in Croatia has developed into a rather stable political institution, at least compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Enyedi and Casal Bértoa 2013). Stability is not only indicated by institutionalization of a system of party competition (e.g. volatility, ENPP, ideological polarization, etc.), but also by institutionalization of party organizations. The two major political parties are the same organizations that participated in the founding democratic elections in 1990 (Čular 2001: 127–130). Party splits and mergers have not endangered their continuity. The entry of new political parties into the party system has been gradual and limited – far from the rapid electoral success of newly formed organizations such as in Slovenia or the Czech Republic in recent years. Party membership has been rather stable and comparatively high (around 10% of registered voters) throughout the whole period (Čular and Nikić Čakar 2014). Major parties have spread their territorial organization to almost all local administrative units, and nationally relevant political parties (either independently or in coalitions) control around 80% of local candidacy, 85% of votes, and almost 90% of all seats in local councils. Around 40–45% of voters have developed a strong party identification (Čular 2005: 140–141; Henjak 2011), which is especially pronounced in the case of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), whose sympathizers make up 60–70% of all HDZ voters. In a word, parties in Croatia are durable and stable organizations.

This does not however, mean that the party system dynamic is nonexistent. In contrast to relative stability at its core, there is a considerable flux on the edges of the party system. At the moment, there are 149 registered political parties in Croatia, and between 55 and 65 parties have regularly competed in each parliamentary election, since 2000.