The Croatian Christian Democratic Union ( or HKDU) was a minor right-wing Christian-democratic political party in Croatia. It was founded in 1992 after the merger of Croatian Democratic Party (HDS) and the Croatian Christian Democratic Party (HKDS).
Origins
The Croatian Christian Democratic Party (Hrvatska kršćanska demokratska stranka, HKDS) was created in 1990 and modelled after the Christian-democratic 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, it joined a bloc of moderate nationalists called the Coalition of People's Accord. Like all parties of that bloc, it fared badly, but one year later it held a ministerial post in the "National Unity" government of Franjo Gregurić. This fiasco led HKDS to unite with Croatian Democratic Party (HDS). A dissident faction of the HKDS continued to operate under the party's old name.
The Croatian Democratic Party (Hrvatska demokratska stranka, HDS) was a right-wing party that was among the first to be founded after the arrival of multi-party democracy in Croatia. Led by veteran Communist-era dissident Marko Veselica, HDS was supposed to be the focal point for the most radical Croatian nationalists. This spot was, however, taken by Franjo Tuđman and his Croatian Democratic Union. Like the HKDS, the HDS instead joined the moderate Coalition of People's Accord and, consequently, fared badly in the 1990 Croatian parliamentary election.
- 3rd assembly (1995-1999) - one member of parliament
- 4th assembly (2000-2003) - one member of parliament
Long-time presidents of the party were Marko Veselica (1992-2001) and Anto Kovačević (2001-2007).
In 2007, party ceased to exist and majority of member decided to held a new "founding assembly" (osnivački sabor) and elected Željko Nuić as its new president, who criticized the former presidents Petar Ćurlin, Marko Veselica and Anto Kovačević as failures of the party.
Electoral history
Legislative
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Election
!In coalition with
!Votes won
<small>(coalition totals)</small>
!Percentage
!Seats won
!Change
|-
|1995
|HSS-IDS-HNS-SBHS
|441,390
|18.26%
|
| 1
|-
|2000
|HSP
|153,708
|5.19%
|
|
|-
|2003
|HČSP-HDSS
|24,632
|0.99%
|
| 1
|}