Istrian Democratic Assembly

The Istrian Democratic Assembly (Croatian: Istarski demokratski sabor, Italian: Dieta democratica istriana) is a Croatian regional and social liberal political party in Istria. The hyphenated abbreviation IDS-DDI is most commonly used.

The three rams on the party coat of arms represent a historical symbol of the region, which is also represented by the ram in the fourth of the five parts of the crown resting atop the Croatian coat of arms (25-field white and red chequerboard) on the Croatian flag.

The party is led by Ivan Jakovčić. In the Croatian Parliament, however, it has been Damir Kajin who most frequently acted as the parties spokesperson and he headed the party list in the 2007 elections where the party gained 3 representatives.

The party was founded 1990, on the eve of the first multi-party elections in modern Croatia. The party decided not to participate, thus allowing Communists, recently rebranded as the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, to make a sweep of the region. IDS instead made its electoral debut on 1992 elections and used the collapse of the SDP to take all three Istrian constituencies.

This result turned Istria into an area of significant concern for Croatian President Franjo Tuđman and his Croatian Democratic Union, which had dominated every other region in Croatia. For the first elections for Croatian Chamber of Counties, which also coincided with the first election for newly formed Istria county, state-controlled media launched an unprecedented media blitz directed almost exclusively at Istria. This effort spectacularly backfired as Istrian voters gave almost three quarters of their votes to IDS. After that no party challenged IDS supremacy in Istria, at least not directly.

The main policy of the IDS is intercession of cultural and economical identity of Istria and equal status for Italian and Croatian in Istria. This was in opposition to Tuđman and his hard-line nationalism. Other Croatian political parties were more pragmatic, and IDS cooperated with them in the Croatian Parliament and during elections. In Istria, however, IDS is bitterly opposed by local branches of SDP, as well as their former member and first Istrian prefect Luciano Delbianco who had defected and formed a new party called Istrian Democratic Forum.

IDS was briefly part of the national government following 2000 parliamentary and presidential elections. One year later, IDS, dissatisfied with the way Ivica Račan and his coalition partners treated Istria, left the government, although they continued to support it in Parliament.

In 2006, IDS joined the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).