Željka Antunović (Croatian pronunciation: [ʒɛ̂ːʎka antǔːnɔʋit͡ɕ]) (born 15 September 1955) is a former Croatian centre-left politician and the deputy president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the largest opposition party in Croatia. She also served as the 9th Minister of Defence from 2002 until 2003. She was the first and to date only female holder of the office.Antunović was born in Virovitica, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Croatia) She entered the political scene in 1990 when she joined the Social Democrats of Croatia (SDH), a centre-left party - formed after establishment of democracy across Yugoslavia - and originally a major rival of the SDP, who had in turn recently succeeded the League of Communists of Croatia. However, following disastrous results of the SDH in parliamentary elections, the party accepted the SDP's offer of unification, which occurred in 1994. Antunović, together with Antun Vujić, gradually rose through the ranks of SDP. Wikipedia