Ivica Račan

Prime Minister of Croatia

24 February 1944 Ebersbach, Nazi Germany

29 April 2007(2007-04-29) (63) Zagreb, Croatia

27 January 2000 – 23 December 2003

Croatian politician Ivica Račan (pronounced  ; 24 February 1944 – 29 April 2007) was a Croatian politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2000 to 2003, heading two centre-left coalition governments. Račan became the first prime minister of Croatia not to be a member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), namely the opposition coalition headed by his Social Democratic Party (SDP) won the 2000 parliamentary election and came to power for the first time since independence. He was the leader of the party, initially called the League of Communists of Croatia (SKH) from 1990 to 2007. Before becoming prime minister, he served in the capacity of Leader of the Opposition on two occasions: firstly, from the first multi-party elections in May 1990 until the formation of a national unity government under Franjo Gregurić in July 1991; and secondly, from his defeat in the 2003 general election by Ivo Sanader until his death on 29 April 2007.