Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Friday elected Sabina Glasovac and Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, both of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as Deputy Speakers from the opposition, thus filling all five Deputy Speaker positions.
Glasovac and Hajdaš Dončić were unanimously elected by MPs, with 135 votes in favor. Glasovac served as Deputy Speaker also in the previous term.
At the constitutive session last week, Željko Reiner (HDZ), Ivan Penava (DP), and Furio Radin, the representative of the Italian minority, were elected as Deputy Speakers from the ruling majority.
Glasovac was born in 1978 in Našice, where she completed her primary and secondary education. She graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zadar, obtaining a degree as a professor of German and English language and literature. She has extensive political experience, having served as a deputy in the Zadar County Assembly and the Zadar City Council, as well as an advisor and assistant to the Minister of Science, Education, and Sports. She was elected to the Croatian Parliament in the 2015 parliamentary elections and has held various roles in parliamentary committees. In 2020, she was elected Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament.
Hajdaš Dončić was born in 1974 in Zabok. He graduated and earned a master's degree from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb, and received his doctorate in the field of social sciences, economics, from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Split. From 2002 to 2006, he was the head of the Department for Economy, Agriculture, Tourism, and Utility Services in Krapina-Zagorje County. In 2006, he became the director of the Zagorje Development Agency, and in 2009, he was elected Prefect of Krapina-Zagorje County. From 2012 to 2016, he served as Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport, and Infrastructure. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2016.