Croatian Democratic Union

The Croatian Democratic Union (Croatian: Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica, HDZ), is a Croatian political party.

It was founded in the early 1990s by Franjo Tuđman and led by him until his death. Under him it ruled Croatia from 1990 to 1999. It owed its popularity chiefly to renewed patriotism in Croatia; some have described it as a popular, nationalist movement rather than a political party.

The rebel Serbs from the Krajina see HDZ as a chauvinist party and accuse it of orchestrating ethnic cleansing during the Yugoslav wars, though much the same can be said of their SDS as well.

As the general independence enthusiasm gradually disappeared and harsh economic conditions started to sink in, the HDZ lost the 2000 elections to the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and its coalition partners, despite remaining the strongest single party in the country. Several businessmen who became tycoons under HDZ were trialled and incarcerated for various abuses, though in general the privatization process implemented by the HDZ, which many consider suboptimal, wasn't significantly altered.

It consolidated under a new leader, Ivo Sanader, and in late 2003 it used the still problematic economic conditions to its advantage. After winning the parliamentary elections it formed a government with only one minister from another party (the List of political parties in Croatia, Politics of Croatia

There is also a Croatian Democratic Union in Bosnia.