Preparations for its adoption began in the summer, just a few months after the first democratic elections and the establishment of the first democratically elected multi-party parliament on 30 May 1990.

The Presidency of what was still the Socialist Republic of Croatia at the time decided to propose the adoption of a Constitution to the Sabor, emphasising that it should reflect the will of the citizens expressed in the first multi-party elections and embody the political views and aspirations of the majority of the population.

This decision was supported in sessions held on 25 and 26 July 1990 by all three parliamentary councils of the time.

As the first Speaker of parliament, Žarko Domljan, recalled in his speech before the Constitution was passed, the guidelines for drafting the new Constitution were outlined by Croatia’s first President Franjo Tuđman.

The “difficult and responsible task” of preparing the new Constitution was undertaken by the Parliamentary Commission on Constitutional Matters and the Constitutional Commission of the Presidency of the Republic, adhering to the political and state-legal guidelines presented by Tuđman, Domljan said.

“A total of 229 individuals from all social strata were appointed to the Constitutional Commission, of whom 152 actively participated in its work,” Tuđman said during the ceremony marking the proclamation of the new Constitution.

Interest in the new Constitution was significant. Citizens, local communities, municipal assemblies, political parties, professional and other associations, as well as religious communities, submitted their proposals to the Parliamentary Commission on Constitutional Matters, the Commission’s chairman, Vladimir Šeks, said on 21 December 1990.

Šeks also highlighted a novelty in the Commission’s work: all its sessions were open to the public, and every working document “quickly became a subject of curiosity and commentary.”

Work on the draft text of the Constitution took place under dramatic circumstances, as in August 1990, a rebellion by part of the Croatian Serb population erupted in Knin, accompanied by fierce attacks from Belgrade media.

The draft of the new Constitution was published in the daily newspaper Vjesnik on 27 November, and by 20 December, the Commission on Constitutional Matters had received approximately a thousand pages of comments and proposals.

The draft of the first Croatian Constitution was prepared during two weeks in August 1990 in Malinska on the island of Krk. It was drafted by a working group of the Parliamentary Commission on Constitutional Matters. According to available details, more than 70% of the Krk draft was ultimately included in the Christmas Constitution.

Meanwhile, another expert working group emerged from the Constitutional Commission, which comprised over 200 members.

The final text of the proposed Constitution was prepared by a group including Šeks, constitutional law professor Smiljko Sokol, and Zdravko Tomac, then vice president of the opposition party SKH-SDP. The preamble was written by President Tuđman.

The Christmas Constitution was the first democratic Croatian Constitution, enabling Croatia’s secession from the state-legal union with the former Yugoslavia and the creation of an independent and sovereign state. It defined Croatia as a unified and indivisible democratic and social state, laying the foundation for a modern political system.