Croatian Democratic Union 1990
The Croatian Democratic Union 1990 is a political party of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It split from the Croatian [Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina] and is led by Ilija Cvitanović. In 2006, it was the leading member of the Croats Together coalition.
On 12 September 2014, the HDZ 1990 was admitted as an observer member to the European People's Party.
History
The Croatian Democratic Union 1990 was founded on 8 April 2006 in Mostar. It was formed by splitting from the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Božo Ljubić, who in July 2005 was the opponent of Dragan Čović for the position of president of the HDZ BiH, was elected president.At the time of the attempted constitutional changes in 2006, HDZ 1990 opposed the changes contained in the "April Package", which according to the party was "harmful to the Croat position". In the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the HDZ 1990 Club independently offered its own amendments and, subject to their acceptance, expressed its readiness to accept the constitutional changes, but their amendments were not accepted. For this reason, on April 26, 2006, representatives of HDZ 1990, together with representatives of Haris Silajdžić's Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, defeated the Travanjski package in the House of Representatives of the [Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]. The overthrow of the April package, which would have cemented the two-entity BiH, made HDZ 1990 popular among Croats.
Following the 2006 Bosnian general elections, Croatian [Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina|HSP], SDA and SNSD. Nediljko Rimac of HDZ 1990 was appointed Prime Minister of Canton 10, and Drago Stanić of the HSP was appointed President of the Canton.
In January 2007, Zvonko Jurišić, the president of the HSP, was appointed Prime Minister of the West Herzegovina Canton.
At the Fourth Congress of HDZ 1990 held on 6 July 2013, Martin Raguž was elected party president. He received 395 votes in the election, while his opponent, Slaven Raguž, received 136 votes. Božo Ljubić left the party on 29 April 2014.
In the 2014 general elections, HDZ 1990 nominated Martin Raguž as its candidate for the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he finished second, with 94,695 votes, or 38.6%. The majority of Raguž's votes came from Bosniak-majority areas. Raguž received significant support in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica and other Bosniak-majority cities, while his party received minor support in those areas. Dragan Čović was elected as the Croat member of the Presidency.
The HDZ 1990 County Board of the West Herzegovina Canton requested Raguž's resignation in December 2015 due to "general inactivity and party laziness and the worsening party situation on the ground". Raguž resigned on 23 December 2015, citing health problems with his spine. He was replaced by Ilija Cvitanović.