Croatian Democratic Union

The Croatian Democratic Union, in Croatian Hrvatska demokratska zajednica or HDZ, is a major conservative, centre-right to right-wing political party in Croatia. It was founded on 17 June 1989 by Croatian dissidents led by Franjo Tudjman and registered on 25 January 1990, and it won the first multiparty elections that year, governing Croatia through the 1990s as the country became independent. It governed again in coalition from 2003 to 2011 and has led the government since 2016 under Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. It is one of the two major contemporary parties in Croatia, with the centre-left Social Democratic Party, and belongs to the Centrist Democrat International, the International Democracy Union and the European People's Party. It is the first Croatian party convicted of corruption.