Constitution of Croatia in the context of "Croatian Parliament"

The Albanians of Croatia (Albanian: Shqiptarët në Kroaci; Croatian: Albanci u Hrvatskoj) are people of full or partial Albanian ancestry and heritage who are an ethnic minority in Croatia.

They are an autochthonous national minority recognized by the Constitution of Croatia. As such, they elect a special representative to the Croatian Parliament, shared with members of four other national minorities. The Albanian language is recognised in Croatia.

Socialism has been mentioned in several liberal democratic constitutions. It is referenced either in the form of denunciation (as is the case in the Croatian, Hungarian and Polish constitutions) or in form of construction, namely that the constitution of the state in question proclaim that it seeks to establish a socialist society (Bangladesh, India, Guyana and Portugal being examples). In these cases, the intended meaning of the term socialism can vary widely and sometimes the constitutional references to socialism are left over from a previous period in the country's history.

With the exceptions of Bangladesh, India, Guyana, Portugal, and Sri Lanka, references to socialism were introduced by Marxist–Leninist communist parties (sometimes in collaboration with more moderate socialist parties). In India, it is used in relation to secularism. In Sri Lanka, socialist terms were introduced by the United National Party. Tanzania considers itself to be a socialist state, having previously been a one-party state led by the Party of the Revolution (which has been in power since independence). Croatia, Hungary and Poland have references to socialism in the form of rejection of their own past communist state.

Italians of Croatia are an autochthonous historical national minority recognized by the Constitution of Croatia. As such, they elect a special representative to the Croatian Parliament. There is the Italian Union of Croatia and Slovenia (Croatian: Talijanska Unija, Slovene: Italijanska Unija), which is a Croatian-Slovenian joint organization with its main site in Rijeka, Croatia and its secondary site in Koper, Slovenia.

There are two main groups of Italians in Croatia, based on geographical origin:

Regular elections in Croatia are mandated by the Constitution and legislation enacted by Parliament. The presidency, Parliament, county prefects and assemblies, city and town mayors, and city and municipal councils are all elective offices. Since 1990, seven presidential elections have been held. During the same period, ten parliamentary elections (with two for the upper house when the parliament was bicameral) were also held. In addition, there were nine nationwide local elections. Croatia has also held three elections to elect members of the European Parliament following its accession to the EU on 1 July 2013.

The President of Croatia is elected for a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens in a majority system, requiring runoff elections if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of votes in the first round. Members of Parliament are elected for a four-year term in ten multi-seat constituencies, with additional members elected in special constituencies reserved for the Croatian diaspora and national minorities. As of July 2020, legislation provides for the election of 151 members of the unicameral parliament (including three representatives of the Croatian diaspora and eight representatives of national minorities). Out of 31 political parties which won seats in Croatian parliamentary elections held since 1990, only six have won ten seats or more in any one parliamentary election. Those were the Croatian Democratic Union, the Croatian Peasant Party, the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, the Croatian Social Liberal Party, Social Democratic Party of Croatia and The Bridge. The county prefects, city/town mayors and municipality presidents are elected for four-year term by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units, with a runoff election if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting. Members of county, city/town and municipal councils are elected for a four-year term through proportional representation, with the entire local government unit as a single constituency.

The speaker of the Croatian Parliament (Croatian: Predsjednik Hrvatskog sabora, literally the president of the Croatian Parliament) is the presiding officer in the Croatian Parliament, Croatia's legislative body.

Under Article 97 of the constitution of Croatia, the speaker of the Croatian Parliament is the only constitutional deputy to the president of Croatia and serves as acting president if the elected president vacates the office before the expiration of the five-year presidential term due to either death, resignation or removal from office (as determined by the Constitutional Court). In this case an early presidential election must be held within 60 days of the vacancy in the presidency having occurred and the speaker shall serve as acting president until the newly elected president is sworn in for a full five-year term of office.

The Government of Croatia (Croatian: Vlada Hrvatske), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (Vlada Republike Hrvatske), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (hrvatska Vlada), is the main executive branch in Croatia. It is led by the president of the Government (predsjednik Vlade), informally abbreviated to premier (premijer) or prime minister. The prime minister is nominated by the president of the Republic from among those candidates who enjoy majority support in the Croatian Parliament (Sabor); the candidate is then chosen by the Parliament. There are 20 other government members, serving as deputy prime ministers, government ministers or both; they are chosen by the prime minister and confirmed by the Parliament. The Government of the Republic of Croatia exercises its executive powers in conformity with the Croatian Constitution and legislation enacted by the Croatian Parliament. The current government is led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Following the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Government of the Land or officially the Royal Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Government of the Land (Zemaljska vlada or Kraljevska hrvatsko-slavonsko-dalmatinska zemaljska vlada)—headed by a crown-appointed ban—were established. This government existed until the Austria-Hungary breakup and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' creation in 1918. In 1939, the Banovina of Croatia was established and a head of the Banovina of Croatia (Ban) was appointed by the crown, but no effective government was formed before World War II. In 1943, the ZAVNOH established an executive board to act as a new government. The Socialist Republic of Croatia, as a part of federal Yugoslavia, had a separate government (from 1953 to 1990 known as the Executive Council, appointed by the Sabor) with limited powers (excluding defence and foreign relations; this was similar to all the previous governmental forms). Following the first multi-party elections and the adoption of the present Constitution of Croatia in 1990, the present governmental form was adopted and Stjepan Mesić became the first person to lead a non-communist government (under Government of Yugoslavia), while Josip Manolić was the first prime minister of an independent Croatia. Since the introduction of multi-party democracy, the Republic of Croatia has had fourteen governments headed by twelve different prime ministers. Nine governments have been formed by the Croatian Democratic Union, three by the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, one was headed by a non-partisan prime minister and one was a national unity government (formed during the Croatian War of Independence's peak).

The Croatian nationality law dates back from June 26, 1991, with amendments on May 8, 1992, October 28, 2011, and January 1, 2020, and an interpretation of the Constitutional Court in 1993. It is based upon the Constitution of Croatia (Chapter II, articles 9 and 10). It is mainly based on jus sanguinis.