Croatian Party of Rights

{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox political party

The Croatian Party of Rights (Template:Langx, Template:Small HSP) is an extra-parliamentary nationalist<ref name="PEE">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Bugajski">Template:Cite book</ref> and far-right<ref name="PEE"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> political party in Croatia. The word "right(s)" in the party's name refers to the legal and moral reasons for the autonomy, independence, and sovereignty of Croatia.Template:Sfn

History

The HSP, along with other modern Croatian parties, such as the Croatian Pure Party of Rights, claim legacy to the Party of Rights, which was founded in 1861 and existed until 1929.Template:Citation needed

1991–1995

A group of people restored Croatian Party of Rights on 25 February 1990.Template:Sfn Dobroslav Paraga, the first president of the party acknowledged the historical bounds with the older Party of Rights. Soon, the party faced splits.Template:Sfn Krešimir Pavelić, a former secretary of the party, became president of the new Croatian Democratic Party of Rights.Template:Sfn Some other rights parties that claimed origin from old Party of Rights appeared.Template:Sfn Croatian Party of Rights did not participate in the Croatian parliamentary election in 1990,Template:Sfn which helped Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to win more votes.Template:Sfn

The parties membership grew at a rapid rate, with the party having 18,000 members by the end of 1990, and grew to over 100,000 members by the end of fall in 1991, with thousands of supporters attending the parties rallies and protests.<ref>Irvine 1996, p. 7–8</ref>

HSP's political appeal and strength were at peak during the 1991–92 when Croatian Defence Forces, a military wing of the HSP, took heavy burden of defence of Croatia.Template:Sfn Paraga was the champion of the Croatian will for freedom and independence.Template:Sfn Paraga harshly and openly criticized Franjo Tuđman for his cooperation with Serbia and the conflict with Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Template:Sfn The HSP used the writings of Ante Starčević and the writings of Ustaše ideologues such as Mile Budak to argue that Tuđman was not radical enough in his defence of the Croatian state.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The ruling HDZ cooperated with the HSP until the fall of Vukovar, after which the leaders of the HSP and HOS were imprisoned for "terrorist activities" and "obstruction of democratically elected government". Paraga and the Croatian Party of Rights appeared in front of a military tribunal on allegations of insubordination.Template:Sfn They were later released. Paraga's main political and electoral platform was the creation of a Greater Croatia and the total defeat of the "Serbian aggressor".Template:Sfn In the Croatian parliamentary election held in 1992, HDZ lost 7% of votes in favor of the Party of Rights.Template:Sfn

One of the party's first post-communist leaders, Ante Paradžik was a political dissident during the former Yugoslavia when he was a student leader of the Croatian Spring, but he was killed during the war by assassination. Paraga found himself in a power struggle with his deputy, Anto Đapić. Paraga and Đapić fought a legal battle for the right to use the party name, a dispute that Paraga eventually lost. Paraga later formed the Croatian Party of Rights 1861 (HSP 1861) but by this time he was already politically marginalized.Template:Citation needed

On 17 September 1993, the leaders of the three rights parties held a meeting in Kutina and began preparations for a new union on a broad common rights program.Template:Sfn The initiative for the meeting came from the new leaders of the HSP, Đapić and Boris Kandare,Template:Sfn who invited leaders of the Croatian Pure Party of Rights and the Croatian National Democratic League but the meeting was unsuccessful, and those parties are still acting separately.Template:Sfn During the parliamentary election in 1995, HSP lost popularity due to bad situation in the party in favor of HDZ.Template:Sfn

1995–present

The old logo of the HSP, being much wider and shorter

At the 2003 Croatian parliamentary election, the HSP was in an alliance with Međimurje Party, Zagorje Democratic Party and non-partisan Slaven Letica. Together, they won 6.4% of the popular vote and 8 out of 151 seats, all for the HSP and Letica. In August 2005, the Croatian Democratic Republican Party, a right-wing political party established on 21 October 2000, by merger of three smaller right-wing parties,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> merged into the HSP.

The first president of HDRS was Joško Kovač. In September 2007, prominent members Miroslav Rožić and Tonči Tadić left the party. In November at the 2007 Croatian parliamentary election, the party suffered a setback, as it won 3.5% of the popular vote and a single seat in Sabor. After the 2009 Croatian local elections, which weren't particularly successful for the party either, turmoil in the party leadership escalated when a faction led by former representatives Ruža Tomašić and Pero Kovačević formed a splinter "Croatian Party of Rights — Dr. Ante Starčević".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

At the party convention held on 7 November 2009, Đapić officially stepped down, allowing a new leader to be elected by party members. Daniel Srb defeated two other candidates to become the new president of the party. The HSP announced that during the Croatian parliamentary election in 2011 holders of their list in VII Electoral District (primary Lika and Gorski Kotar) would be exclusively women.<ref name="Romic">Template:Cite news</ref>

The party, for the first time, didn't win any parliamentary seats in the 2011 Croatian parliamentary election, which led to a crisis in Party of Rights; leaders of the Dalmatian branch of the party called for resignation of honorary president Anto Đapić.<ref name="Jurkovic">Template:Cite news</ref> The president of the HSP in Split, Hrvoje Tomašević, asked for Đapić's resignation from politics and election in the party.<ref name="Jurkovic" /> He was supported by the president of the HSP in Dubrovnik, Denis Šešelj.<ref name="Jurkovic" /> This appeal resulted in Đapić's resignation from party politics.<ref name="pmz">Template:Cite news</ref>

On 28 January 2013, the Presidency of the Croatian Party of Rights expelled its former honorary president Đapić from the party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Srb, the party's president, said that Đapić expelled as he broke his promise that he wouldn't be active in politics. Đapić said that he was shocked by the decision.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 16 July 2020, the county council of HSP Split reached a unanimous conclusion on demanding the resignation of the parties presidency and the president, Karlo Starčević, which he strongly opposed at the presidency session. HSP Split officials gave a statement, in which they resigned and left the party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Election results

Legislative

The following is a summary of the party's results in legislative elections for the Croatian Parliament. The "Total votes" and "Percentage" columns include sums of votes won by pre-election coalitions HSP had been part of and the "Total seats" column includes sums of seats won by HSP in election constituencies plus representatives of ethnic minorities affiliated with HSP.

Election	Leader	In coalition with	Votes won	Percentage	Seats won	Change	Government
			Template:Small		Template:Small
1992	Dobroslav Paraga	None	186,000	7.1%	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:No2
1995	Anto Đapić	None	121,095	5.0%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1	Template:No2
2000		HKDU	152,699	5.2%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No2
2003		ZDS–MS	157,987	6.4%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 4	Template:No2
2007		None	86,865	3.5%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 7	Template:No2
2011	Daniel Srb	HS	72,360	3.0%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1	Template:No
2015		HKS–Template:Ill	13,980	0.6%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No
2016		HČSP–ABH–Template:Ill	13,082	0.7%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No
2020	Karlo Starčević	NHR–GO	7,266	0.44%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No
2024	Nikica Augustinović	HDSS–HB	18,128	0.85%	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No

Presidential

The following is a list of presidential candidates endorsed by HSP in elections for President of Croatia.

Election year(s)	Candidate	1st round		2nd round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
1992	Dobroslav Paraga	144,695	5.51 (#4)			Template:No2
2000	Anto Đapić	49,288	1.84 (#5)			Template:No2
2005	Slaven Letica	57,748	2.59 (#5)			Template:No2
2009–10	Dragan Primorac	117,154	5.93 (#6)			Template:No2
2014–15	Milan Kujundžić	112,585	6.30 (#4)			Template:No2
2019-20	Miroslav Škoro	465,704	24.75 (#3)			Template:No2
2024-25	Tomislav Jonjić	82,787	5.15 (#5)			Template:No2

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Coalition	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
			Template:Small		Template:Small
2013	Daniel Srb	None	10,317	1.39 (#9)	Template:Composition bar	New	–
2014	Milan Kujundžić	Alliance for Croatia	63,437	6.88 (#4)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2019	Dražen Keleminec	NHR	46,970	4.37 (#7)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2024	Božo Petrov	Most–HS	30,155	4.01 (#6)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0

See also

• Croatian Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the sister party in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• HSP Zagreb
• HSP/HOS flags and symbols