Stjepan Mesic was elected president of the Republic of Croatia in February 2000. Prior to assuming the presidency, he served as executive vice president of the Croatian People's Party. In 1990, Mesic -- a member of Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) -- became Croatian prime minister, and he served as the republic's member of the Yugoslav presidency until 1991. Consequently, he is known as the last president of the former Yugoslavia.

President Mesic has been active in politics his entire life and was imprisoned for one year in the 1970s for his participation in the movement advocating Croatia's equality within Yugoslavia at the time, the so-called "Croatian Spring."

President Mesic holds a law degree from the University of Zagreb.