The party was formed in 2002. It first participated in
local elections in
Tivat municipality that year, and established its headquarters in this town. HGI has best electoral results in
Boka region, because the Croat minority is concentrated mostly in municipalities of Tivat and
Kotor. Marija Vučinović was party president from 2006, until 2019. At the 2009
legislative elections in Montenegro, Croatian Civic Initiative was a part of victorious
Coalition for a European Montenegro, alongside
DPS,
SDP,
DUA and the
Bosniak Party. HGI contested the 2012
legislative elections independently, and won 0.4% of votes, gaining one seat in the
Parliament, because of the lower
electoral threshold envisaged for the Croat minority, which has been set at 0.35%. The party entered a post-election coalition with ruling DPS and SDP. The party's sole parliamentary representative was Adrian Vuksanović, who was elected new president of the Party in 2019. In February 2019, following ideological disagreements with the HGI membership,
Marija Vučinović was removed from the post president by the party's main board, remaining a minister in the Montenegrin government. Eventually she left the party prior the
2020 Montenegrin parliamentary election. In July 2020 she became one of the founders of the new Croatian minority interests
Croatian Reform Party, established when the centrist faction of the HGI defected from the party, and formed new political subject. At the first party congress, Vučinović was elected president of the new party. A newly formed party ran independently at the 2020 elections, competing for one Croatian parliamentary seat with the HGI. As there were two parties running represent interest o Croatian minority, they split votes, which led to no party crossing the 0.35% electoral threshold. In April 2022, after the fall of
Krivokapić Cabinet, a
new government under
Dritan Abazović was composed including Adrian Vuksanović as minister without portfolio. Vuksanović later resigned on 22 October 2022. In the
2023 Montenegrin parliamentary election, the HGI only accumulated 0.74% of all votes, gaining one seat in parliament. Following the election, the party remained in the opposition and was not included in the
government led by Milojko Spajić. ==Electoral performance==