18 years of age; universal (16 years of age, if employed)
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Stjepan (Stipe) MESIC (since 18 February 2000) head of government: Prime Minister Ivica RACAN (since 27 January 2000); Deputy Prime Ministers Goran GRANIC (since 27 January 2000), Ante SIMONIC (since 30 July 2002), Zeljka ANTUNOVI (since 27 January 2000), Slavko LINIC (since 27 January 2000) cabinet: Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and approved by the House of Representatives elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 7 February 2000 (next to be held NA 2005); prime minister nominated by the president in line with the balance of power in the Assembly note: government coalition - SDP, HSLS, HSS, LP, HNS; a sixth party, the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), withdrew in June 2001 election results: Stjepan MESIC elected president; percent of vote - Stjepan MESIC (HNS) 56%, Drazen BUDISA (HSLS) 44%
Legislative branch:
unicameral Assembly or Sabor (151 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms); note - House of Counties was abolished in March 2001 election results: Assembly (then referred to as the House of Representatives) - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - HDZ 46, SDP 44, HSLS 24, HSS 17, HSP/HKDU 5, IDS 4, HNS 2, independents 4, minority representatives 5 elections: Assembly - last held 2-3 January 2000 (next to be held in the fall of 2003)
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; judges for both courts appointed for eight-year terms by the Judicial Council of the Republic, which is elected by the House of Representatives
Ground Forces (Hrvatska Vojska, HV), Naval Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces
Military manpower - military age:
19 years of age (2003 est.)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 1,081,135 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 856,946 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 30,096 (2003 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$520 million (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.39% (2002 est.)
Disputes - international:
discussions continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina on sections of the Una River and villages at the base of Mount Pljesevica; parliamentarians are far from ratifying the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement, which would have ceded most of Pirin Bay and maritime access to Slovenia and several villages to Croatia; in late 2002, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro adopted an interim agreement to settle the disputed Prevlaka Peninsula, allowing the withdrawal of the UN monitoring mission (UNMOP), but discussions could be complicated by the inability of Serbia and Montenegro to come to an agreement on the economic aspects of the new federal union; Croatia and Italy continue to debate bilateral property and ethnic minority rights issues stemming from border changes after the Second World War
Illicit drugs:
transit point along the Balkan route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe; has been used as a transit point for maritime shipments of South American cocaine bound for Western Europe
