Dražen Budiša is a Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n politician who used to be leading opposition figure in the 1990s and a two-time presidential candidate.

During Yugoslavia

Budiša was one of the radical student leaders during the Croatian Spring

Croatian Spring

The Croatian Spring was a political movement from the early 1970s that called for greater rights for Croatia which was then part of Yugoslavia as well as democratic and economic reforms.-History:...

 in the 1970s. For his activities he was later sent to Lepoglava prison

Lepoglava prison

Lepoglava prison is the oldest prison in Croatia. It is located in Lepoglava, Varaždin County, northern Croatia, southwest of Varaždin prison.-History:...

 by Communist authorities. Before the arrival of democracy he worked as a librarian.

In 1989 he was one of the founders of Croatian Social Liberal Party

Croatian Social Liberal Party

Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS is a conservative liberal political party in Croatia. The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Its current president is Darinko Kosor, elected to that post in November 2009.-Chronology:The HSLS was...

 and later its leader. During the 1990 elections

Croatian parliamentary election, 1990

Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 22 April 1990, with a second round of voting on 6 May. The first free elections since multi-party politics were introduced, they resulted in a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 55 of the 80 seats...

 his party joined Coalition of People's Accord

Coalition of People's Accord

Coalition of People's Accord was the bloc of mostly moderate nationalist and liberal parties formed on the eve of first multi-party elections in Croatia in 1990....

 and fared badly, including Budiša who failed to win a seat.

As leader of opposition

In August 1991, during the war

Croatian War of Independence

The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...

, Budiša became a minister in war-time cabinet of Franjo Gregurić

Franjo Greguric

Franjo Gregurić is a Croatian politician who served as prime minister of Croatia from July 1991 to September 1992.Gregurić was born in the Zagorje village of Lobor. He attended the Technical highschool in Zagreb, and then the Technical Faculty of the University of Zagreb...

. In February 1992, he was the first ministers to break ranks, being opposed to the constitutional laws guaranteeing political autonomy of ethnic Serbs in exchange for their formal recognition of Croatian sovereignty. He announced his decision to resign during televised session of the Croatian Parliament, and thus became rallying point for many Croatians dissatisfied with the policies of Franjo Tuđman.

Although he lost the presidential election of 1992

Croatian presidential election, 1992

Presidential elections were held in Croatia for the first time on 2 August 1992 alongside simultaneous parliamentary elections. The result was a victory for Franjo Tuđman of the Croatian Democratic Union , who received 57.8% of the vote...

 to Tuđman, he confirmed his status of opposition leader, beating many other, presumably more charismatic leaders like Savka Dabčević-Kučar and Dobroslav Paraga

Dobroslav Paraga

Dobroslav Paraga is a Croatian right-wing politician.-Background:In his early days Dobroslav Paraga used to advocate secession of Croatia from Yugoslavia and that led him to be persecuted by the Communist authorities. Paraga used that persecution as an argument against Yugoslavia and its low human...

. His HSLS party also fared relatively well at those elections and later had even better results few months later on Chamber of Counties, regional and local elections

Croatian Chamber of Counties election, 1993

Chamber of Counties election were held for the first time in Croatia on 7 August 1993. The result was a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 37 of the 63 elected seats. Voter turnout was 64.3%.-Background:...

, when HSLS reached its zenith.

In 1995, the united opposition won local elections for Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

 and HSLS suggested a mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

. However, Franjo Tuđman abused his powers - starting the Zagreb Crisis

Zagreb Crisis

The Zagreb crisis is the name used to describe a political crisis that followed the elections for the City of Zagreb local assembly held in October 1995...

 - and blocked four HSLS mayors suggested, including Budiša.

This rise of HSLS proved to be short-lived. On the 1995 parliamentary elections

Croatian parliamentary election, 1995

-Subsequent changes:The following changes happened after elections:*The Croatian Pure Party of Rights gained one member of parliament*The Croatian Christian Democratic Union gained one more member of parliament*The Serb People's Party lost one member of parliament...

 many of its voters switched to rejuvenated Social Democratic Party of Croatia

Social Democratic Party of Croatia

Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...

 (SDP) and a centrist coalition. Still, HSLS remained the strongest opposition party in the lower house of the parliament. Two years later, the dissipation continued on local elections. Budiša reacted by floating plans for coalition government with Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), hoping to attract their voters. This led to a split with Vladimir Gotovac

Vladimir Gotovac

Vladimir "Vlado" Gotovac was a Croatian poet and liberal politician.Vladimir Gotovac was known as a very talented poet but was also stigmatized as a Croatian nationalist in socialist Yugoslavia...

 and creation of Liberal Party

Liberal Party (Croatia)

Liberal Party was a Croatian political party active between January 1998 and April 2006. During its existence the party ran in two general elections and in each election won two seats in the 151-seat Sabor. LS was a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party...

 who opposed the HDZ's right politics.

Coalition with SDP and the new government

After that Budiša finally realised that the only way to get power lies in a broad coalition of all opposition parties, including SDP. He and Ivica Račan

Ivica Racan

Ivica Račan was a Croatian career politician, leader of the League of Communists of Croatia and later Social Democratic Party from 1989 to 2007...

 signed the coalition agreement in 1998 and convincingly won at the 2000 parliamentary election

Croatian parliamentary election, 2000

Elections for the Chamber of Representatives of the Croatian Parliament were held on January 3, 2000. These were the first elections to be held after the expiration of a full term of the previous Chamber....

.

This triumph was marred by Budiša losing to Stjepan Mesić

Stjepan Mesić

Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...

 on the presidential elections

Croatian presidential election, 2000

Presidential elections were held in Croatia on 24 January 2000. As no candidate passed the 50% threshold, a secound round was held on 7 February, the first time a second round had been required in the country's history. The result was a victory for Stjepan Mesić of the Croatian People's Party, who...

 held two weeks later. Budiša, who tried to woo followers of Franjo Tuđman during the second round, was embittered by this defeat and this led to his party turning increasingly right-wing and later squabbles with his government coalition partners. This resulted with him resigning from the post of president of HSLS on 12 July 2001 over dispute with SDP about whether to send Croatian generals to ICTY. Jozo Radoš

Jozo Radoš

Jozo Radoš is a Croatian centre-left politician, currently a prominent member of the Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats.In the 1990s he was a member of the Croatian Social Liberal Party ....

 was chosen to act instead of him.

Budiša was resentful of having no post in the new government and publicly forced Račan to dismiss Goran Granić

Goran Granic

Goran Granić is a Croatian centre-left politician who was the deputy prime minister from 2000 to 2002.From 1995-1996, Granić was selected as mayor of Zagreb by his party that won the local elections...

, the deputy prime minister and HSLS party member in order to put Budiša at that position, at which he remained for only a short time.

One of the points on which Budiša clashed with Mesić (and later Račan) was cooperation with ICTY. All this escalated in 2002 when Budiša and his party left the government in an unsuccessful bid to force new elections. The ultimate result was yet another fragmentation of his party and the formation of the Party of Liberal Democrats who supported the government.

Fall from politics

Back in opposition, Budiša first quit his party, and dramatically returned a year later - which was seen as a staged event - and then tried to return to power by forming a centre-right

Centre-right

The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...

 bloc together with the new Democratic Centre of Mate Granić

Mate Granic

Mate Granić is a Croatian diplomat and politician who was part of the Croatian Government in much of the 1990s.Granić was born in Baška Voda in Dalmatia...

. On 2003 parliamentary elections

Croatian parliamentary election, 2003

-External links:*...

, this bloc fared badly, winning only three seats, with neither for the two party leaders. Although those three seats later proved crucial in helping Ivo Sanader

Ivo Sanader

Ivo Sanader |Split]]) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also later worked in the 1980s. He worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and also as a private...

to form a parliamentary majority, Budiša, like Granić, took responsibility for the disaster and on 17 December 2003 resigned party leadership.