Croatian Civic Initiative

Political party in Montenegro

Politics of Montenegro
Political parties
Elections

The Croatian Civic Initiative (Croatian/Montenegrin: Hrvatska građanska inicijativa, HGI, Montenegrin Cyrillic: Хрватска грађанска иницијатива, ХГИ) is a political party of the Croat minority in Montenegro.^[2]

History

The party was formed in 2002. It first participated in local elections in Tivat municipality that year, and established its headquarters in this town. HGI has best electoral results in Boka region, because the Croat minority is concentrated mostly in municipalities of Tivat and Kotor. Marija Vučinović was party president from 2006, until 2019. At the 2009 legislative elections in Montenegro, Croatian Civic Initiative was a part of victorious Coalition for a European Montenegro, alongside DPS, SDP, DUA and the Bosniak Party.

HGI contested the 2012 legislative elections independently, and won 0.4% of votes, gaining one seat in the Parliament, because of the lower electoral threshold envisaged for the Croat minority, which has been set at 0.35%. The party entered a post-election coalition with ruling DPS and SDP. The party's sole parliamentary representative was Adrian Vuksanović, who was elected new president of the Party in 2019.

In February 2019, following ideological disagreements with the HGI membership, Marija Vučinović was removed from the post president by the party's main board, remaining a minister in the Montenegrin government. Eventually she left the party prior the 2020 Montenegrin parliamentary election. In July 2020 she became one of the founders of the new Croatian minority interests Croatian Reform Party, established when the centrist faction of the HGI defected from the party, and formed new political subject. At the first party congress, Vučinović was elected president of the new party. A newly formed party ran independently at the 2020 elections, competing for one Croatian parliamentary seat with the HGI. As there were two parties running represent interest o Croatian minority, they split votes, which led to no party crossing the 0.35% electoral threshold.

In April 2022, after the fall of Krivokapić Cabinet, new government under Dritan Abazović was composed including Adrian Vuksanović as minister without portfolio.^[3]

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

Election	Party leader	Performance				Alliance	Government
Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Alliance	Government
2006	Marija Vučinović	164,737	48.62%	1 / 81	New	ECG	Support
2009		168,290	51.9%	1 / 81	0	ECG	Support
2012		1,470	0.40%	1 / 81	0	—	Coalition
2016		1,801	0.47%	1 / 81	0	—	Coalition
2020	Adrian Vuksanović	1,106	0.27%	0 / 81	1	—	extra-parliamentary^[a]
2023	Adrian Vuksanović	2,226	0.74%	1 / 81	1	—	Opposition

Notes:

^A Extra-parliamentary (2020-2022); Government (April-October 2022); Extra-parliamentary (October 2022-)

References

^ Vuksanović izabran za predsjednika HGI, Vijesti (July 2019). Retrieved 29 August 2020
^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2020). "Montenegro". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
^ Šćepanović, Lela (28 April 2022). "Crna Gora dobila novu manjinsku Vladu premijera Dritana Abazovića" [Montenegro gets a new minority government of Prime Minister Dritan Abazović]. Radio Slobodna Evropa (in Montenegrin). Retrieved 1 May 2022.