Croatia is observing Statehood Day on Sunday in memory of 30 May 1990 when, after decades of communist rule, the foundations of the modern Croatian parliament, the Sabor, were created and its historic role in the preservation of Croatian statehood was confirmed.

This year Statehood Day is being observed on the 31st anniversary of the inauguration of Croatia’s first democratic and multi-party parliament at which Zarko Domljan was elected speaker.

The inauguration of the new Sabor of the then still Socialist Republic of Croatia was performed “in an exceptionally festive atmosphere,” historian Ivo Peric says in a book on the Croatian parliament.
Stjepan Mesic was elected chairman of the Sabor’s Executive Committee and Franjo Tuđman chairman of the Socialist Republic of Croatia Presidency.

Addressing the MPs on that occasion, Tudjman said that throughout history “the Croatian state parliament was the guardian of the sovereignty (except from 1918 to 1941) of the Croatian people in relation to other national and state communities.”

The first Sabor had 351 members and three councils – the Municipalities Council, the Associated Labour Council and the Social-Political Council.

The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had 207 seats, the League of Communists of Croatia – Party of Democratic Changes 107, the Coalition of People’s Accord 21, and the Serb Democratic Party five, while 13 were independent and ethnic minority MPs.

The 1990 parliament was in office a little over two years. Elections for its House of Representatives were held in August 1992 and the new Sabor was unicameral and had 138 MPs.

Independently of that and the fact that it served part of its term in wartime, the first parliament adopted historic decisions on Croatia’s sovereignty and independence, on severing state and legal ties with the Yugoslav federation, as well as the 1990 Christmas Constitution.

This year is the second in a row in which Croatia is observing Statehood Day on 30 May. Two years ago that was Croatian Parliament Day, a memorial and working day, while Statehood Day was observed on 25 June, a public holiday and non-working day.

In 2019, the HDZ majority in parliament reinstated 30 May as Statehood Day as it was in the 1990s.