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| 1998, Jan. 15 |
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| Through UN intervention, Croatian sovereignty was returned to Eastern Slavonia, the last traditionally Croatian territory that had been held under militant Serb occupation. | 1 |
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| 1999, Dec. 10 |
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| Pres. Franjo Tudjman died after a long battle with stomach cancer. He had been replaced by Speaker of Parliament Vlatko Pavletic two months earlier in a ruling by the Croatian Supreme Court that Tudjman was incapacitated. | 2 |
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| 2000, Jan. 3 |
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| In parliamentary elections, an alliance of the Social Democrats and the Social Liberal Party won 47 percent of the vote, substantially overpowering the HDZ. When Social Democrat Ivica Racan was selected to be premier, the change of power was hailed worldwide as a step toward positive political and economic reform in Croatia. | 3 |
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| Feb. 7 |
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| Temporary leader Pavletic was succeeded by the moderate Stipe Mesic after Mesic won a runoff presidential election. One of Mesic's first acts as head of state was to invite the 300,000 exiled Serbs to return peacefully to Croatia. | 4 |
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