Former President of Poland

Mesić was a deputy in the Croatian Parliament in the 1960s, and was then absent from politics until 1990 when he joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and was named Prime Minister after HDZ won the elections. He was appointed to serve as SR Croatia’s member of the Yugoslav Federal Presidency where he served first as Vice President and then in 1991 as the last President of Yugoslavia before Yugoslavia dissolved.

Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, Mesić served as Speaker of the Croatian Parliament from 1992 to 1994, when he left HDZ. With several other members of parliament, he formed a new party called Croatian Independent Democrats (HND).

In December 1999 Mesić won the elections to become the next President of the Republic of Croatia in February 2000. He was re-elected in January 2005 for a second five-year term