Sanader, Ivo

Sanader, Ivo ēˈvō sänändârˈ [key], 1953–, Croatian political leader, b. Split. He worked in marketing and publishing until 1991, when he became manager of the Croatian National Theater in Split. In 1992 he was first elected to parliament, and he served as minister of science and technology until 1993, when he became deputy foreign minister. He left the cabinet in 1995 to become chief of staff to President Franjo Tudjman. In 1996, however, he was again appointed deputy foreign minister (1996–2000).

Sanader became head of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in 2000, pledging to modernize and strengthen the conservative party. Elections in 2003 gave the HDZ a plurality in parliament, and Sanader became prime minister of a coalition government. Sanader and the HDZ retained power after the 2008 vote, leading a broadened coalition.

He stepped down as prime minister in 2009 and announced his retirement from politics; when he subsequently announced his political comeback, he was expelled from the HDZ but remained in parliament as an independent. In Dec., 2010, after Croatian prosecutors sought to detain Sanader in connection with a corruption investigation, he was arrested in Austria and extradited (2011). Additional corruption charges were brought against him in 2011 and 2013. He was convicted on various corruption charges in 2012 and 2014, but retrials in both cases were ordered in 2015. In 2017 he was convicted in a third corruption case, and he was reconvicted on some of the earlier charges in 2018–20.

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