"That is an absolute lie," Macek told reporters in the parliament building, adding that the claims belonged to "an anthology of political stupidity".
"More nonsense will be coming from that clique in the next few days, but the public will see for themselves who is lying," Macek said, adding that the party's election conventions in 2002 and 2004 were fair.
He went on to say that this was a cheap electoral trick and an attempt to sow dissent among HDZ ranks.
Macek said that he and his associates had personally organised the 2004 election convention in Rijeka and that "Drmic was nowhere near the convention, except in his capacity as a deputy".
HDZ Presidency member Andrija Hebrang, who Drmic claimed was the victim of the election fraud at the Rijeka convention, told reporters he did not believe Drmic.
Reporters today tried to get a statement from Vladimir Seks, also a member of the HDZ Presidency, but parliament guards would not allow them even to wait in front of the parliament restaurant, where Seks was having lunch.
Neverthless, they continued waiting for Seks, but as he was leaving the restaurant, the guards started pushing reporters away, which provoked their protest.
Reporters covering parliamentary sessions are disgruntled with the fact that Seks has been under protection by parliamentary guards for several weeks now, that they are prevented from approaching the Sabor speaker, as well as that their movement inside the parliament building is being resticted.
Ivica Racan, head of the leading opposition SDP party, said today that he expected relevant judicial institutions to act on the claims made by Drmic.