Politics
The country is a parliamentary democracy. The last general elections were held at the end of 2007, in which no single party won a majority. After negotiations, the HDZ (the Croatian Democratic Union) leader and incumbent Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, convinced other MPs that he should get the mandate to form the new government. His coalition partners were the HSS (Croatian Peasant Party), the Croatian-Serb Party and representatives of some minority groups in the country.

On 1st July 2009, Sanader made the surprise decision to step down as Prime Minister and withdraw entirely from politics. No real reason has yet been given for his move; it was widely expected that he would continue as PM until standing for election as President in 2010. He has been replaced by his deputy, Jadranka Kosor, who became the new Prime Minister of Croatia (the first female PM in the country) on 6th July 2009.

Presidential elections were last held in January 2005 when President Stipe Mesic was re-elected to another five year term. Presidential powers in Croatia are limited, but he is still influential in domestic and foreign policy issues. The next presidential election is due to be held in January 2010. President Mesic will not be eligible to run in this election.

Croatia received an invitation to join NATO in 2008, and officially became a member on 1 April 2009.

EU membership negotiations are proceeding slowly. In the opinion of many experts, Croatia has no chance of joining before 2011.