Croatia 1990
The Croatian government adopted the 1990 Croatian constitution, often referred to as the “Christmas Constitution,” anticipating its departure form the ailing Yugoslav Federation. The popularly-elected, right-of-center Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ) came to power in the first post-Communist competitive elections of May 1990. This party was elected based on its nationalistic platform and desire to restore an independent Croatia.
No single set of negotiations to write and promulgate an interim constitution occurred. Rather, as in many Eastern European cases, the "new" constitution was preceded by a series of amendments to the existing socialist constitution that in effect created an "interim" constitution. In Croatia, this included at least two amendment packages. The first, legalizing multi-party elections, was enacted in January 1990. The second, dropping communist and Yugoslavian symbols, language and Serbian (Cyrillic) script from the Republic, came into force in July 1990.
In July 1990, the Croatian Presidency first proposed to the Croatian Assembly, the republican parliament, that a new constitution should be adopted. It argued that the amended 1974 constitution legally limited the routine activities of the constitutional authorities, state administrations and social institutions in addition to stifling the political, economic and civil development of Croatian citizens. The Constitutional Committee of the Croatian Assembly, comprised of parliament members, oversaw the constitutional drafting process. By November 1990, a 145-article draft constitution was put before the three chambers of the Croatian Assembly for debate. The constitutional committee then allowed four weeks of public debate during which they reviewed citizen proposals and comments. The committee revised the draft in early December 1990.
On December 21, 1990, the 356-member Croatian Assembly approved the new constitution with only one vote against. The 16 deputies representing the Serbian minority in Croatia walked out before the final vote. They boycotted because their objections had not been included in the revised draft. The constitution contained an article that permitted Croatia to secede from the Yugoslav federation with a two-thirds majority vote from the legislature. The constitution received ratification on December 22, 1990.
Note: Armed Croat Serbian uprisings began in August 1990. Language in the adopted constitution relegated Croat Serbians to a minority status rather than as one of the republic’s constituent nations. This further exacerbated Croat-Serb tensions and contributed to the civil war that erupted in July 1991. A constitutional law was added in 1991 to settle the minority rights dispute.