Cacic, nominated by his party as a candidate for prime minister, told reporters that the campaign was starting in Djakovo because the HNS had been founded in that town and because Slavonia had a special place in the party's decentralisation plan.
Cacic said the party was launching the campaign a year before the elections because it wanted to become acquainted with the problems of the public. He announced visits to 200 towns and municipalities in the course of the campaign.
Cacic presented the party election platform, called the Reform Projects for a New Croatia, which focuses on Croatia's new sovereignty, decentralisation, a fair society and accelerated economic growth.
He expressed satisfaction with opinion polls showing that he was the second most popular politician, with 20% of votes, behind the incumbent PM Ivo Sanader, with 27 percent of votes. According to the opinion polls, Social Democrat leader Ivica Racan is third with 16% of votes, and Party of Rights leader Anto Djapic fourth with 8% of votes.
Antun Kapraljevic, an HNS member of parliament, said that a rally of the Croatian Democratic Union in Karlovac was a response to the start of the HNS's election campaign, and described statements on the fight against corruption by HDZ officials as hypocritical.