yed)

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Stjepan (Stipe) MESIC (since 18 February
2000)
head of government: Prime Minister Ivo SANADER (since 9 December
2003); Deputy Prime Ministers Jadranka KOSOR (since 23 December
2003) and Damir POLANEC (since NA February 2005)
cabinet: Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and
approved by the parliamentary Assembly
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last held 16 January 2005 (next to be held January 2010);
the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority
coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president and
then approved by the Assembly
election results: Stjepan MESIC reelected president; percent of vote
- Stjepan MESIC (HNS) 66%, Jadranka KOSOR (HDZ) 34%

Legislative branch:
unicameral Assembly or Sabor (152 seats; note - one seat was added
in the November 2003 parliamentary elections; members elected from
party lists by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: Assembly - last held 23 November 2003 (next to be held in
2007)
election results: Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA%; number
of seats by party - HDZ 66, SDP 34, HSS 10, HNS 10, HSP 8, IDS 4,
Libra 3, HSU 3, SDSS 3, other 11
note: minority government coalition - HDZ, DC, HSLS, HSU, SDSS

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; judges for both courts
appointed for eight-year terms by the Judicial Council of the
Republic, which is elected by the Assembly

Political parties and leaders:
Croatian Bloc or HB [Ivic PASALIC]; Croatian Christian Democratic
Union or HKDU [Anto KOVACEVIC]; Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ
[Ivo SANADER]; Croatian Party of Rights or HSP [Anto DJAPIC];
Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Zlatko TOMCIC]; Croatian Pensioner
Party or HSU [Vladimir JORDAN]; Croatian People's Party or HNS
[Vesna PUSIC] (in 2005 party merged with Libra to become Croatian
People's Party-Liberal Democrats or NS-LD [Vesna PUSIC]); Croatian
Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Ivan CEHOK]; Croatian True Revival
Party or HIP [Miroslav TUDJMAN]; Democratic Centre or DC [Vesna
SKARE-OZBOLT]; Independent Democratic Serb Party or SDSS [Vojislav
STANIMIROVIC]; Istrian Democratic Assembly or IDS [Ivan JAKOVCIC];
Liberal Party or LS [Zlatko BENASIC]; Party of Liberal Democrats or
Libra [Jozo RADOS] (in 2005 merged with HNS); Social Democratic
Pa