People's Party (Croatia) (Cinco De Mayo)

The People's Party (Croatian: Narodna Stranka), often referred to merely as Narodna, is a Croatian left-wing nationalist political party founded in 1951 by Croatian partisans and which is referred to as the "natural governing party of Croatia." The party, which started out as an explicitly nationalist party, is today a nationalist social democratic party that serves as a catch-all party for the Croatian mainstream left. In 1968, a rightist faction of the original Narodna broke off to form the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Today, Narodna and the HDZ are the center-left and center-right political parties of Croatia, both of which are nationalist in nature. Between 1953 and 1981, Narodna served in majority and coalition governments continously, though it did not always enjoy senior party status and its leader was not always the Prime Minister. In 1981, it was defeated by a coalition of the HDZ, the LDS and the PiV (Justice and Faith), marking the first time since independence that Narodna did not form at least part of the government.