The spokesman for HDZ presidential candidate Jadranka Kosor's election team, Ratko Macek, told a Croatian Television prime-time news programme on Friday evening that Kosor's campaign was being funded by the HDZ and by donors, and that the donors' names would be revealed only if they agreed with it.
Stefanija Balog, the financial manager in Mesic's election team, said on Saturday that this was "against the law".
Under the Election Campaign Funding Act, all presidential candidates are required to send a report to the State Election Commission specifying the amount and sources of funds being used for the election campaign and identifying the donors, Balog said.
Boris Sprem, who is in charge of legal affairs in Mesic's election team, said that the law did not explicitly say that the publication of donors' names required their approval, but that the presidential candidates were obliged by the law to make public the amount of funds and the names of donors.
Balog said that Mesic's election team had sent a second preliminary campaign funding report on Friday saying that slightly over four million kuna (about 526,000 euros) had been raised and that 3.9 million kuna (about 513,000 euros) had been spent.
Ahead of the second round of the presidential election, due to take place on January 16, Mesic has received donations from the leading opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Democratic Action Party (SDA) of Croatia. The SDP has donated 500,000 kuna (about 65,000 euros) and the SDA 20,000 kuna (about 2,600 euros).